All housing financed through CHFA, including tax credit allocations, must comply with the Multifamily Design, Construction and Sustainability Standards and Guidelines, resulting in housing that’s as energy-efficient, cost-effective and sustainable as possible. These comprehensive standards and guidelines cover a broad range of recommendations, from site location and energy efficiency to the quality and durability of building materials, to ensure we provide safe, comfortable homes for our residents.
CHFA’s Technical Services Team, staffed by architects, evaluates all stages of affordable housing projects for compliance with our standards and guidelines, while also looking to minimize construction costs and mitigate construction risk. Any requirements set by state funding programs and federal tax credit programs are also evaluated.
The Technical Services Team can provide guidance to the owners, consultants and architects of a development before they apply for CHFA financing. The team reviews environmental and geotechnical reports, hard cost estimates and budgets and architectural drawings and specifications throughout the application process; and CHFA Field Observers observe the construction of a development.
The Technical Services Team reviews more than 100 applications annually for new construction, rehabilitation and capital improvement repairs including replacement reserve requests.
Along with the Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP), our construction and design standards include ventilation and thermal envelope measures that encourage good air quality and Passive House requirements and other energy efficiency measures to reduce the demand for heating, cooling and overall energy use.
Our Multifamily Design, Construction and Sustainability Standards and Guidelines go above state code regulations and have been recognized by Global Green USA for producing some of the most energy efficient buildings in the country.
The standards are applicable to every project financed through CHFA, including tax credit allocations, taking cost constraints and available resources into consideration.