Community Facility Relending Program

Date: December 7, 2016

Category: News

Overview:

South Carolina Community Loan Fund (SCCLF) has been awarded $10 million to finance community facilities in rural census tracts in South Carolina through the USDA’s Community Facilities Relending Program. This collaboration between banks, philanthropic foundations, and community development organizations will allow SCCLF to make a significant impact in communities with the greatest need. The funding may be used to build, acquire, maintain or renovate essential community facilities, such as education, health care and infrastructure, in rural and high poverty census tracts.

A completed Loan Inquiry Form should be submitted to enable staff to iniate contact and discuss the project further.

Guidelines:

South Carolina Community Loan Fund (SCCLF) will loan these funds to Applicants primarily for projects in or serving persistent poverty counties or high poverty areas that are eligible under the Community Facility Loan Program. Please input your project’s address in the following USDA Rural Development: Census Tracts with 20%+ Poverty Rate map to find out if it qualifies http://rdgdwe.sc.egov.usda.gov/rdpoverty/index.html .

Project Eligibility:

1) Facilities must be located in rural areas in accordance with 7 CFR 1942.17(b)(2), and comply with all project eligibility requirements as outlined in 7 CFR part 1942.

2) Essential community facilities associated with Re-lending projects must:

a) Carry out a function customarily provided by a local unit of government;

b) Be a public improvement needed for orderly development of a rural community;

c) Not include private affairs, commercial or business undertaking (except for limited authority for industrial parks);

d) Be operated on a nonprofit basis; and

e) Be considered the area of jurisdiction or operation for public bodies eligible to receive assistance or a similar local rural service area of a not- for-profit corporation owning and operating an essential community A community may be a small city or town, county, or multi-county area depending on the type of essential community facility involved. The applicant must have the legal authority and responsibility to carry out the project. The term ‘‘facility’’ refers to the physical structure financed or the resulting service provided to rural residents under the CF program.

3) For essential community facilities, the terms ‘‘rural’’ and ‘‘rural area’’ will not include any area in any city or town with a population in excess of 20,000 inhabitants, according to the latest decennial Census of the United States.

4) Essential community facilities are those public improvements requisite to the beneficial and orderly development of a community operated on a nonprofit basis, including but not limited to:

a) Health services (g., Hospitals, medical and dental clinics, skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, telemedicine equipment);

b) Public services (g., Town halls, courthouses, airport hangers, fire hall, police station, prison, police vehicles, fire trucks, public works vehicles, equipment);

c) Community, social or cultural services (g., Childcare centers, community centers, transitional housing, libraries, schools (including public, private and charter), distance learning equipment, community gardens, food pantries, community kitchens, food banks, food hubs or greenhouses); and Transportation facilities, such as streets, roads and bridges.