Accessing CALHFA 40k ADU Grant Funds

Our Program

Effective December 2023, the URAL inspection fee has been made mandatory. This policy change was introduced in advance of the latest round of grant funding and is aimed at addressing the issues of fraud that arose during earlier stages of the grant process.

As many of you are aware, the grant program initially began as a pilot initiative. Since its inception, several rules and regulations have been revised or newly implemented following the first round of grants.

We acknowledge that our website currently reflects the original status of the inspection fee, and we are working diligently to update the information to reflect the current requirements. We sincerely apologize for any confusion this may have caused and appreciate your patience and understanding as we continue to refine the process.

CALHFA ADU Grants are provided by HPP Cares, a nonprofit 501c3 approved by the IRS. In our capacity as a nonprofit approved provider, we developed a program that provided households with an alternative to refinancing their existing mortgage at record low rates in order to access the CALHFA ADU grant, while incurring origination fees of $7,000 to $13,000, that absorb the majority of the grant award.

With the variety of options we offer in our program, we have been able to address the needs of homeowners in creating affordable housing for loved ones, creating generational wealth by offsetting monthly expenses with rental income, and creating neighborhood density in the process.

Whether you are:

• Cash-funding your project
• Obtaining financing after submitting an application, such as a HELOC or a second mortgage
• Funded by a prior refinance or home equity line of credit
• Borrowing money from relatives

Or one of many other options

As long as your managed Escrow account is fully funded, HPP CARES is willing to support all funding options.HPP CARES gives you the flexibility to pursue the best funding options with any institution, and you can consult with any professionals who are interested in building your ADU.

HPP CARES offers options for all households interested in joining the ADU movement.

Have questions about the program? Join our Wednesday Live Leader Led Webinar or send an email to [email protected] for further assistance.

Consult A Tax Advisor Before You Apply

The CAHLFA ADU GRANT is a grant, not a loan. All recipients of the CALHFA ADU GRANT in the 2022 Calendar Year will receive a 1099 in January for the full amount of $40,000.00. We regret to inform you that there is no way to defer the 1099. Even if the awardee does not use the funding until 2023. We regret to inform you that 1099s will be issued for 2022. In this case, there is no way to change it.

As soon as you realize that you wish to use less than the award amount for the 2022 calendar year, we will amend the award amount and adjust your 1099 for the amount used. We must be notified of this change by December 21, 2022. We must have the remainder of the year to ensure the award has been correctly adjusted and all systems are properly updated.

Our Application and Process

Our Guidelines

Our program is unique in that we are able to offer many different options to households interested in ADUs. When considering working with our agency, there are still some standard rules to follow.

To qualify for a grant, the property must be owner-occupied at the time of application. In the case of homebuyers, the deed must be recorded within 20 days of the application being submitted, reviewed and considered for approval.

The applicant must be named on the property’s deed. It is pertinent to note that we will work with households whose property is owned by a Trust, an LLC as long as it is not a corporate LLC, or Tenancy In Common. All documentation must be presented, and ownership must be clearly demonstrated.

A single-family residence or a multi-unit building with 1-4 units are acceptable property.

Please note that Freddie Mac qualifying guidelines are followed when determining participants’ income requirements.

In terms of funding, we allow a wide range of options when it comes to building your ADU.

Once approved

The most prudent advice is not to disclose that you are an awardee to the licensed professionals you are getting bids from. Fees and costs for projects are increasing by 100%. Keeping your grant funds under wraps is the most effective way to protect them. There has been an increase in predatory activities and it is sad to observe them. On social media, there is concern that our agency is this, that, and the other. As a result of homeowners’ ignorance of construction costs, licensed professionals mark up their prices. We urge the unlicensed individuals on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok to target the real predators, the shady professionals out there who rip off consumers. That’s the real story. There is no doubt that it is not a small nonprofit that is true to its mission of advocating for consumers and educating them, in addition to helping California address the housing crisis.

How Reimbursement works

The first questions we ask are: How are you funding your project and is there an existing mortgage on the property?

Transferring From Another CALHFA ADU Provider

We do not poach clients because that is not what we are interested in. #NotInKindergarten

When you do good work with passion and conviction, it shows. We are happy to accommodate all households and their requests. Please contact the CALHFA Grant Program for more information.

On The Waitlist

Thank-you for submitting all the requested items. At this point we would like to update you on the current situation, and the next steps.

The current situation

We had a tremendous turn-out pertaining to the CALHFA ADU Grant Program, and with such limited funds available we have been able to reserve a limited number of Grants. With the State being aware of the high demand for the Grant, we were extremely hopeful that the State Legislation will allocate additional funds toward the Program. However, this has not been the case – there is no new funding for the Grant program, currently.

The State will be issuing a formal update in the coming week regarding the number of ADU Grants that are available. Once we have the final allotment, we will submit those on the waitlist in the order that they appear on the list. We will send out an update email, once we have the details.

We are doing everything we can to advocate for additional funding.

We invite, and encourage, you to do the following:

Please sign the Sign-On Letter and contact your legislative members letting them know that you want an ADU and the much-needed grant funding.

Sign the letter

What happens to your personal application and personal data?

We will hold all in our secure system as we await any new details and update from the CALHFA Leadership.