HOMEfires - Vol. 1 No. 6, February 24, 1998

Q: How should I set up an activity and commit funds in IDIS under HOME to purchase, rehabilitate, and rent out homes at different locations?

Is there a way to set up and fund this activity without knowing the addresses of the properties?

Can one activity have more than one property address?

Would the same process work for a first-time homebuyer program which provided HOME assistance at different locations?

A: Under HOME regulations, funds cannot be committed to a project until a written legally binding agreement has been executed for the identifiable property(ies) . Therefore, no HOME funds can be committed for a rental or homeownership project until address information is available.

If the scattered site rental units do not share ownership, management, and financing, each property address will constitute a separate HOME "Project " and must be set up as a separate activity in IDIS. Each activity must also be separately funded in IDIS.

Multiple scattered site rental properties can be considered a single project under HOME and be entered as one activity in IDIS, if all properties will be under common ownership, management, and financing and are to be assisted with HOME funds as a single undertaking. At set up in IDIS, the owner's information and at least one property address must be available. The Total HOME Funds Requested field on IDIS screen C04MH02 (Homeowner/Rental Assistance Setup) must contain the total HOME funds needed to fund all scattered site properties included in the activity. This will establish the limit on the amount which can be funded for the activity from HOME through IDIS. At completion, screen C04MH12 (HOME Rental Housing Location/Address) is used to identify all the specific scattered site properties which constitute the single activity.

Most first-time homebuyer assistance will be considered separate projects under HOME and be recorded as separate activities in IDIS. Only when the project involves multi-unit homeownership assistance can there be a single project under HOME and one activity in IDIS to cover multiple addresses. This occurs only when assistance is provided to two or more homebuyers in a project which is on land held in single ownership prior to project completion (such as a subdivision or condominium). At completion, all the unique condominium or subdivision property addresses are entered on screen C04MH12 (HOME Multi-unit Location/Address).