Rural Housing Preservation Grants

The purpose of this program is to assist very low and low-income rural homeowners in obtaining adequate housing to meet their needs by providing the necessary assistance to repair or rehabilitate their housing. These obligations will be accomplished through the establishment of housing rehabilitation projects run by eligible applicants. This program is intended to make use of and leverage any other available housing programs, which provide resources to very low and low-income rural residents to bring their homes up to code standards. Eligible areas are established under a procedure similar to that used by Rural Development's Single Family and Multi-Family Housing Program. View a list of New Jersey's eligible areas or determine property eligibility.

Applicant Eligibility - Must be a State, political subdivision, or public or private non-profit corporation authorized to receive and administer housing preservation grants. Must provide assistance under this program to families.

Organizations may use up to 20 percent of the Housing Preservation Grant funds to hire the personnel to carry out a project of housing rehabilitation to meet the needs of very low and low income families, to pay necessary and reasonable office and administrative expenses, and to pay reasonable fees for training of organizational personnel. Eighty (80) percent of funds must be used for loans, grants or other assistance to homeowners to pay any part of the cost for repair or rehabilitation of structures; funds may not be used to hire personnel to perform construction or to pay any debts, expenses or costs other than previously outlined and approved in the project application.

Applications can be submitted to the State Office after a public announcement. Generally, the preapplications are submitted between January and February of each year.