(a) General. Assistance made available under this subpart shall be used for direct assistance grants to resident organizations and community-based nonprofit housing developers and resident councils to assist the acquisition of specific projects (including payment of reasonable administrative expense to participating intermediaries.) Assistance made available under subpart E of this part will be distributed on a noncompetitive basis. HUD will publish a Notice in the Federal Register announcing the availability of assistance, as well as the application requirements and procedures and selection criteria that HUD will use in making the assistance available.

(b) Allocation. Thirty percent of the assistance made available under this subpart shall be used for resident capacity grants in accordance with paragraph (d) of this section. The remainder shall be used for predevelopment grants in connection with specific projects in accordance with paragraph (e) of this section.

(c) Limitation on grant amounts. A resident capacity grant under paragraph (d) of this section may not exceed $30,000 per project and a grant under paragraph (e) of this section for predevelopment costs may not exceed $200,000 per project, exclusive of any fees paid to a participating intermediary by the Commissioner for administering grants under this subpart.

(d) Resident Capacity grants—

(1) Use. Resident capacity grants under paragraph (d) of this section shall be available to eligible applicants to cover expenses for resident outreach, incorporation of a resident organization or council, conducting democratic elections, training, leadership development, legal and other technical assistance to the board of directors, staff and members of the resident organization or council.

(2) Eligible housing. Grants under this paragraph (d) of this section may be provided with respect to eligible low income housing for which the owner has filed a notice of intent under subpart B or subpart C of this part.

(e) Predevelopment grants—

(1) Use. Predevelopment grants under paragraph (e) of this section shall be made available to community-based nonprofit housing developers and resident councils to cover the cost of organizing a purchasing entity and pursuing an acquisition, including third party costs for training, development consulting, legal, appraisal, accounting, environmental, architectural and engineering, application fees, and sponsor's staff and overhead costs.

(2) Eligible housing. These grants may only be made available with respect to any eligible low income housing project for which the owner has filed a notice of intent to transfer the housing to a qualified purchaser in accordance with §248.105 or §248.211, or has filed a notice of intent and entered into a binding agreement to sell the housing to a resident organization or nonprofit organization.

(3) Phase-in of grant payments. Grant payments under paragraph (e) of this section shall be made in phases, based on performance benchmarks established by the Commissioner in consultation with intermediaries selected under §248,415.

(f) Grant applications. Grant applications for assistance under paragraphs (d) and (e) of this section shall be received monthly on a rolling basis and approved or rejected on at least a quarterly basis by intermediaries selected under §248.415(b).

(g) Appeal. If an application for assistance under paragraphs (d) or (e) of this section is denied, the applicant shall have the right to appeal the denial to the Commissioner and receive a binding determination within 30 days of the appeal.