Takeaways:
- HUD app and website let you find local affordable housing opportunities and contacts.
- You can use ‘Resource Locator’ to generate a local affordable housing guide.
- Resource Locator is one of many services provided by HUD’s enterprise geographic information system (eGIS).
Want to find local affordable housing opportunities?
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has unveiled an app and website that make the process a breeze.
Screenshot showing map view of the “HUD Resource Locator.”
The “HUD Resource Locator” lets you use a smartphone or computer to find the locations and contact information of various affordable housing properties and developments, offering a resource agents can use to help assist low-income buyers or renters.
The app also shows the locations and contact information of nearby HUD field and regional offices and public housing authorities. Users can see search results in a map view, export those results to Excel and turn them into a customer PDF — perhaps providing an easy way for real estate agents to create a local affordable housing guide.
The app shows five types of affordable housing in a map view:
1. Multifamily properties for low-income consumers and people with special housing needs — These apartment buildings or developments (five or more units) receive rent assistance payments from HUD to provide affordable units. The owners of these properties sign contracts with HUD.
2. “Low-income housing tax credit properties” — properties whose developers receive tax credits for renting out some or all units of a property at below-market rates to low-income people.
3. “USDA Rural Housing” — rural housing subsidized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
4. Public housing buildings — buildings owned and operated by local housing authorities. HUD provides administrative and capital support.
5. Public housing developments — developments owned and operated by local housing authorities. HUD provides administrative and capital support.
The HUD Resource Locator is one of a number of services provided by HUD’s enterprise geographic information system (eGIS).
“CPD Maps,” which lets you look up local grant activities, housing, economic and census data, and the “Qualified Census Tract Locator,” which lets you see if certain addresses are in areas eligible for the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, are among other services available at HUD’s eGIS portal.