A Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO) is a specially formed non-profit corporation established pursuant to federal regulations for purposes of accessing CHDO set-aside funds for the development of affordable housing made available through the federal HOME Investment Partnership Program. The HOME Investment Partnership Program is a federal funding source administered by the Arizona Department of Housing. CHDO funds, available from the State’s HOME allocation, are applied for through the standard State Housing Fund application process.

In order to qualify for funding from this special set-aside, a qualified non-profit must first be certified as a CHDO by ADOH. It should be noted that being certified as a CHDO is not a requirement for accessing the State’s HOME allocation, or any other funding available through ADOH, but is only a prerequisite to receiving funds designated specifically for CHDOs. Nor does becoming a State-certified CHDO guarantee funding from this set aside. Organizations interested in accessing HOME CHDO funds administered by other Arizona HOME Participating Jurisdictions, including the City of Phoenix, Maricopa County HOME Consortium and the Tucson/Pima County HOME Consortium, must contact these entities for information on their CHDO application and certification processes. Non-profit organizations interested in applying for certification to become a State-certified CHDO should review the CHDO application. The application contains information on how to apply to become a CHDO, as well as outlines the federal stipulations for CHDO certification. CHDO certification applications may be submitted at any time.

For a number of years, ADOH has had a moratorium on the certification of nonprofit organizations as new State-certified CHDOs if such organizations were working solely in urban areas of the state of Arizona (i.e., focused solely on the development of projects in Maricopa and Pima Counties). This moratorium was due to the large number of urban-focused CHDOs already working in the state and the Department's desire to ensure the expansion of CHDOs into rural areas of Arizona and the availability of HOME CHDO funds for rural projects out of the State’s annual allocation. This moratorium has been lifted. ADOH will now entertain CHDO certification applications from any eligible non-profit currently working in the state. ADOH will continue, however, to prioritize rural projects through application scoring.

Questions regarding the State of Arizona’s CHDO certification process may be referred to Theresa Hoover, Rental Programs Project Specialist, at (602) 771-1033. A fillable Word version of the application is available upon request.