(a) Eligible activities.

(1) HOME funds may be used by a participating jurisdiction to provide incentives to develop and support affordable rental housing and homeownership affordability through the acquisition (including assistance to homebuyers), new construction, reconstruction, or rehabilitation of nonluxury housing with suitable amenities, including real property acquisition, site improvements, conversion, demolition, and other expenses, including financing costs, relocation expenses of any displaced persons, families, businesses, or organizations; to provide tenant-based rental assistance, including security deposits; to provide payment of reasonable administrative and planning costs; and to provide for the payment of operating expenses of community housing development organizations. The housing must be permanent or transitional housing. The specific eligible costs for these activities are set forth in §§92.206 through 92.209. The activities and costs are eligible only if the housing meets the property standards in §92.251 upon project completion.

(2) Acquisition of vacant land or demolition must be undertaken only with respect to a particular housing project intended to provide affordable housing within the time frames established in paragraph (2) of the definition of “commitment” in §92.2.

(3) Conversion of an existing structure to affordable housing is rehabilitation, unless the conversion entails adding one or more units beyond the existing walls, in which case, the project is new construction for purposes of this part.

(4) Manufactured housing. HOME funds may be used to purchase and/or rehabilitate a manufactured housing unit, or purchase the land upon which a manufactured housing unit is located. Except for existing, owner-occupied manufactured housing that is rehabilitated with HOME funds, the manufactured housing unit must, at the time of project completion, be connected to permanent utility hook-ups and be located on land that is owned by the manufactured housing unit owner or land for which the manufactured housing owner has a lease for a period at least equal to the applicable period of affordability.

(b) Forms of assistance.

(1) A participating jurisdiction may invest HOME funds as equity investments, interest-bearing loans or advances, non-interest-bearing loans or advances, interest subsidies consistent with the purposes of this part, deferred payment loans, grants, or other forms of assistance that HUD determines to be consistent with the purposes of this part and specifically approves in writing. Each participating jurisdiction has the right to establish the terms of assistance, subject to the requirements of this part.

(2) A participating jurisdiction may invest HOME funds to guarantee loans made by lenders and, if required, the participating jurisdiction may establish a loan guarantee account with HOME funds. The HOME funds may be used to guarantee the timely payment of principal and interest or payment of the outstanding principal and interest upon foreclosure of the loan. The amount of the loan guarantee account must be based on a reasonable estimate of the default rate on the guaranteed loans, but under no circumstances may the amount on deposit exceed 20 percent of the total outstanding principal amount guaranteed; except that the account may include a reasonable minimum balance. While loan funds guaranteed with HOME funds are subject to all HOME requirements, funds which are used to repay the guaranteed loans are not.

(c) Minimum amount of assistance. The minimum amount of HOME funds that must be invested in a project involving rental housing or homeownership is $1,000 times the number of HOME-assisted units in the project.

(d) Multi-unit projects. HOME funds may be used to assist one or more housing units in a multi-unit project.

(1) Only the actual HOME eligible development costs of the assisted units may be charged to the HOME program. If the assisted and nonassisted units are not comparable, the actual costs may be determined based on a method of cost allocation. If the assisted and non- assisted units are comparable in terms of size, features, and number of bedrooms, the actual cost of the HOME- assisted units can be determined by prorating the total HOME eligible development costs of the project so that the proportion of the total development costs charged to the HOME program does not exceed the proportion of the HOME-assisted units in the project.

(2) After project completion, the number of units designated as HOME- assisted may be reduced only in accordance with §92.210, except that in a project consisting of all HOME- assisted units, one unit may be subsequently converted to an on-site manager's unit if the participating jurisdiction determines that the conversion will contribute to the stability or effectiveness of the housing and that, notwithstanding the loss of one HOME-assisted unit, the costs charged to the HOME program do not exceed the actual costs of the HOME- assisted units and do not exceed the subsidy limit in §92.250(b).

(e) Terminated projects. A HOME assisted project that is terminated before completion, either voluntarily or involuntarily, constitutes an ineligible activity, and the participating jurisdiction must repay any HOME funds invested in the project to the participating jurisdiction's HOME Investment Trust Fund in accordance with §92.503(b) (except for project- specific assistance to community housing development organizations as provided in §92.301(a)(3) and (b)(3)).

(1) A project that does not meet the requirements for affordable housing must be terminated and the participating jurisdiction must repay all HOME funds invested in the project to the participating jurisdiction's HOME Investment Trust Fund in accordance with §92.503(b).

(2) If a participating jurisdiction does not complete a project within 4 years of the date of commitment of funds, the project is considered to be terminated and the participating jurisdiction must repay all funds invested in the project to the participating jurisdiction's HOME Investment Trust Fund in accordance with §92.503(b). The participating jurisdiction may request a one-year extension of this deadline in writing, by submitting information about the status of the project, steps being taken to overcome any obstacles to completion, proof of adequate funding to complete the project, and a schedule with milestones for completion of the project for HUD's review and approval.

[61 FR 48750, Sept. 16, 1996, as amended at 62 FR 28928, May 28, 1997; 78 FR 44667, July 24, 2013]