Below you will find information about federal and Texas state funds
that may be used to assist in historic preservation. These funds
fall into four broad categories:
Economic Development
General Preservation
Housing
Tax Incentives
Each category has been divided according to the type of funding
available: either grants or loans.
More information about these funding programs can be obtained by
visiting the agency’s web site or by contacting the agency involved.
Specific contact information provided by the agency follows the
program description. Where no contact information has been given,
please refer to the general contact information arranged
alphabetically by agency at the end of this pathfinder.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Grants
- Economic Adjustment Program
Federal Agency: Economic Development Administration
Recipients: States; local governments; Indian tribes;
institutions of higher learning; nonprofit organizations
http://www.osec.doc.gov/eda/pdf/GPO26198.PDF
Under this program, grants
support communities that have experienced or are under threat of
serious damage to their economic base. Implementation Grants can
be used to rehabilitate buildings as part of a Comprehensive
Economic Development Strategy.
EDI grant funds can only be used
in projects also assisted by the Section 108 Loan Guarantee
Program. Grantees may use an EDI grant to provide additional
security for the Section 108 loan, pay some of the project
costs, or reduce the interest rate to be paid from a revolving
loan fund.
See Housing, Loans, Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program
Grants from this program help
communities to revitalize, expand, and upgrade their physical
infrastructure to attract new industry, encourage business
expansion, diversify local economies, and support the generation
or retention of jobs and investments. Rehabilitation of historic
buildings is an eligible activity.
Through grants and tax
incentives, this program provides financial assistance to
distressed communities to open new businesses, rehabilitate and
build housing, and undertake other economic revitalization
projects.
Loans
These guaranteed loans can be
used for modernizing, renovating, or converting existing small
business facilities.
Fund offers loans to nonprofit
organizations and public agencies to support historic
preservation projects that stimulate economic development in
low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.
These guaranteed loans can be
used for renovation of business facilities.
back to
top
GENERAL PRESERVATION
Grants
The more than 1,100 local
governments that participate in the program are eligible to
apply to their State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) for
grants representing a minimum of ten percent of the federal
funds allocated to their State.
The THC’s program requires a cash
or in-kind service match from the community. Typical grants
range from $250 to $10,000. Eligible grant projects include, but
are not limited to: training for local preservation commissions,
surveys of historic resources, producing educational materials,
preparing preservation plans, preparing National Register of
Historic Places nominations. Applications are due by the end of
April each year.
Questions about the grant may be
addressed to:
Texas Historical Commission
Grants Coordinator
Telephone: 512-463-5997
E-mail:
bratten.thomason@thc.state.tx.us
- National Trust Preservation
Fund
The preservation Fund
provides nonprofit organizations and public agencies matching
grants from $500 to $5,000 (typically from $1,000 to $1,500) for
preservation planning and education efforts. Funds may be used
to obtain professional expertise in areas such as architecture,
archaeology, engineering, preservation planning, land-use
planning, fund raising, organizational development and law as
well as preservation education activities to educate the public.
Questions about the grant may be
addressed to:
National Trust Regional Office –
Southwest
Telephone: (817) 332-4398
E-mail: swro@nthp.org
- Save America's Treasures
Grants
Federal Agencies: National Park Service and National
Endowment for the Arts
Recipients: Department of Interior agencies and related
agencies; Indian tribes; State and local governments; non-profit
organizations
http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/treasures/
Historic properties receiving
funds must be nationally significant and be threatened,
endangered, or otherwise demonstrate an urgent preservation
need. Funded by the Federal Historic Preservation Fund, the
grants require a dollar-for-dollar non-Federal match, which can
be cash or donated services or materials. The grant and the
non-Federal match must be used during the grant period, which is
generally 2 to 3 years, to execute the project. Grants are
available for preservation and/or conservation work on
nationally significant intellectual and cultural artifacts and
nationally significant historic structures and sites.
Questions about the grants may be
addressed to:
For Historic Property Projects
National Park Service
Telephone: 202.513.7270, press 6
E-mail:
NPS_treasures@nps.gov
For General Information
The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities
Telephone: 202.682.5409
E-mail: choffman@neh.gov
TPTF grants pay up to one-half of
total project costs to help preserve Texas’ cultural resources.
Grant funds are awarded for acquisition, development, planning,
and education. Projects eligible for grant assistance include:
archeological sites; commercial buildings; public buildings;
unique historic structures, such as bridges, water towers, etc;
and training individuals and organizations about historic
resources and preservation techniques.
Questions about the grant may be
addressed to:
THC Architecture Division
Telephone: 512-463-6094
E-mail:
tptf@thc.state.tx.us.
THC Archeology Division
Telephone: 512-463-6096
E-mail:
archeology.secretary@thc.state.tx.us
THC Community Heritage
Development Division (education training)
Telephone: 512-463-8766
E-mail:
annette.bethke@thc.state.tx.us
In the 1990s, funding for surface
transportation development in this country changed significantly
with passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency
Act (ISTEA) and its successor, the Transportation Equity Act for
the 21st Century (TEA-21).
Ten percent of Federal Surface
Transportation Program funds are set aside to fund
transportation enhancement projects in 12 categories, including
purchase of easements on historic properties, rehabilitation of
historic buildings, landscaping in historic areas, archeological
planning and research, and scenic or historic highway programs.
Projects must relate to surface transportation.
Transportation enhancements
funding is administered by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).
Within the basic framework of the program, each State decides
how it will (or will not) use that funding, and States do not
have to spend the transportation enhancement dollars available
to them.
Loans
- National Preservation Loan
Fund
Organization: Community Partners, National Trust for
Historic Preservation
Recipients: Preservation organizations, local
governments, community development corporations
http://www.nationaltrust.org/loan_funds/index.html
Fund offers loans to assist the
acquisition and/or rehabilitation of a broad array of historic
resources.
back to
top
HOUSING
Grants
Community Development Block Grant
(CDBG) funds help communities carry out a wide range of
community development activities directed toward revitalizing
neighborhoods, economic development, and providing improved
community facilities and services. Among the projects eligible
for funding are: acquisition of real property; rehabilitation of
residential and non-residential structures; construction of
public facilities and improvements; provision of assistance to
businesses to carry out economic development; and job
creation/retention activities.
CDBG funding for non-entitlement
communities (those under a certain population threshold) is
granted to the States to administer. Among the projects eligible
for funding are: acquisition of property; construction or
reconstruction of streets, water and sewer facilities,
neighborhood centers, recreation facilities, and other public
works; rehabilitation of public and private buildings; planning
activities; assistance to nonprofit entities for community
development activities; and assistance to private, for-profit
entities to carry out economic development activities.
See also Economic Development,
Grants, Renewal Communities, Empowerment Zones and Enterprise
Communities (RC/EZ/EC) Initiative
Youthbuild provides grants to
assist high-risk youth to learn housing construction job skills
and to complete their high school education. Program
participants enhance their skills as they construct and/or
rehabilitate affordable housing for low- and moderate-income
persons. Youthbuild pays the costs of the acquisition,
rehabilitation or construction of the housing and related
facilities used in the program.
Loans
Section 108, the loan guarantee
provision of the CDBG program, allows communities to transform a
small portion of their CDBG funds into federally guaranteed
loans. This provides a source of financing for activities such
as: property acquisition; rehabilitation of publicly owned
property; housing rehabilitation; economic development
activities; and acquisition, construction, reconstruction, or
installation of public facilities.
back to
top
TAX
INCENTIVES
A 20% rehabilitation tax
credit applies to any project that the Secretary of the
Interior designates a certified rehabilitation of a certified
historic structure. The 20% credit is available for properties
rehabilitated for commercial, industrial, agricultural, or
rental residential purposes, but it is not available for
properties used exclusively as the owner’s private residence.
A 10% rehabilitation tax
credit is available for the rehabilitation of non-historic
buildings built before 1936. The 10% credit applies only to
buildings rehabilitated for non-residential uses. The
rehabilitation must be substantial, exceeding either $5,000 or
the adjusted basis of the property, whichever is greater. And
the property must be depreciable.
- New Markets Tax Credits
Agency: National Trust Community Investment Fund
Recipients: Investors in commercial projects in qualifying low
income census tracts.
http://www.ntcicfunds.com/funds/
Provides investors with a 39% tax
credit. Access to the new markets tax credit is available to
investors that route their capital through a certified community
development entity (CDE) that possesses an allocation or that
has access to one. The Trust's CDE, NTCIC, offers the NMTC to
investors by directly making active investments in commercial
and mixed-use real estate rehabilitation projects.
For further background on the
Credit and other allocatees, please visit the
CDFI web site.
GENERAL CONTACT INFORMATION
Community Partners, National Trust
for Historic Preservation
Telephone: 202-588-6054
E-mail:
community_partners@nthp.org
Department of Housing and Urban
Development
Telephone: 202-708-1112
San Antonio Field Office
Luz Day, Director
Telephone: 210-475-6806
Economic Development
Administration
U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Austin Region (includes San Antonio)
Pedro R. Garza, Regional Director
Telephone: 512-381-8144
E-mail:
mailto:pgarza@eda.doc.gov
Federal Highway Administration
For state FHWA Transportation Enhancements (TE) representative,
call:
1-888-388-NTEC
National Park Service
Technical Preservation Services
Preservation Tax Incentives
Telephone: 202-513-7270
E-mail: nps_hps-info@nps.gov
Small Business Administration
Telephone: 1-800-U-ASK-SBA (827-5722)
San Antonio District Office
Rodney W. Martin, District Director
Telephone: 210-403-5900
E-mail:
mailto:linda.olinick@sba.gov
Sources: All information contained in
this pathfinder came from the web sites of the agencies and
organizations listed throughout.
back to
top
|
