Rural Workforce Housing
Land Development Program

The Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds provides federal grant relief to households and individuals disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic by developing, repairing, and operating affordable housing and services or programs to increase long-term housing security. The Rural Workforce Housing Land Development Program provides support to families struggling with the public health and negative economic impact of the pandemic. Rural populations are typically low- or moderate-income and are presumed disproportionately impacted households. These populations may also have experienced increased food and/or housing insecurity resulting from the pandemic.

The Rural Workforce Housing Land Development Program will provide awards to eligible municipalities for projects that result in the preparation of land for workforce housing pursuant to the Rural Workforce Housing Investment Act.

What Can the Grants Be Used for?
Funds awarded by the Rural Workforce Housing Land Development Program may be used by eligible municipalities to support long-term housing security, to improve vacant and abandoned properties, including rehabilitation, renovation or maintenance necessary to secure vacant land or building removal and remediation of environmental contaminants, demolition or deconstruction, greening/vacant lot cleanup for conversion to affordable housing, for those households determined by DED to be disproportionately impacted.

Who is Eligible to Apply?
Eligible municipalities that develop, repair, or operate affordable housing and services or programs to increase long-term housing security.

For the purposes of this grant program, “eligible municipalities” means municipalities located within the forty-one (41) rural counties listed below and in the Program Manual. These counties have been determined by DED to be disproportionately impacted:

Additionally, rural municipalities with eligible projects contained in QCTs in the counties of Adams, Buffalo, Dodge, Madison, and Thurston are eligible to apply for projects located only within the QCT. These QCTs include:

Applicants must be working in partnership with an existing 2017 or 2020 Rural Workforce Housing Fund (RWHF) awardee, or eligible nonprofit intending to apply for the 2022 RWHF program.

Letter of Intent Due: December 15, 2022
Application Due: January 19, 2023
Anticipated Award Date: February 2023
Period of Performance: 3 years from the date of Award

Award Amount: Combined awards of the program not to exceed a total of $10,000,000, and each Awardee shall receive grant funds totaling between $250,000 and $1,000,000. While there is no formal match requirement, projects are encouraged to leverage other funding sources.