Housing Development Fund Corporation (HDFC)

The Housing Development Fund Corporation (HDFC) is a revolving loan fund established in 1966 under Article XI of the Private Housing Finance Law and administered by the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR). The purpose of the HDFC program is to provide loans to nonprofit organizations to develop low-income housing projects. HDFC loans may be used for pre-development costs, site acquisition, construction/ rehabilitation financing, and other mortgageable project development costs. HDFC loans may also be used to provide short term financing repaid from equity contributed by investors in low-income housing credit projects.

Because projects developed with HDFC loans must provide housing for low-income residents, the permanent financing is generally State, Federal or Municipal government-aided. However, the project may be privately financed as long as it provides permanent housing for low-income persons. Generally, HDFC pre-development and site acquisition loans are repaid from the first receipts of the construction financing; HDFC construction loans are repaid from the first receipts of the permanent financing; and HDFC bridge loans are repaid from equity proceeds.

In recent funding rounds, HDFC applications for construction financing have been accepted from applicants who requested permanent financing from the New York State HOME Program (HOME) to repay the HDFC loan.

Eligible Applicants

Eligible applicants are Article XI companies and other not-for-profit or charitable corporations including their wholly owned subsidiaries whose primary purpose is the improvement of housing for low-income persons.

Eligible Areas / Income Population Served

HDFC Program funding is available on a statewide basis. To be eligible for HDFC funding, a housing project must serve persons of low-income. Occupant eligibility is determined and regulated by the permanent government funding provider. When the project financing is not government-aided, occupancy in a project assisted by an HDFC loan is restricted to households with incomes not exceeding six times the total housing cost (rent and utilities), except that for households with three or more dependents, the income must not exceed seven times the total housing cost.