The Federal real estate grants available span a wide variety of applications, from housing to provide safe and sanitary farm labor housing to construction or expansion of airport buildings.
Real estate grants should not be confused with low-interest loans. There are also real estate grants available as community block grants for small cities, special purpose grants such as construction or modification of buildings to accommodate the disabled, construction of community centers, healthy homes demonstration programs, as well as grants for niche population, such as housing on Indian reservations.
Real estate grants such as the above typically require that the applicant have a building site already, but in some cases, both Federal and state governments may enter into exchanges of property with municipal applicants. This might involve the requesting agency donating some city or county property in exchange for a federally owned site for something such as a waste treatment facility. Real estate grants may also require matching funds.
As is the case with all Federal grants, this funding is not available to individuals for personal use. The requesting entity can be a school or school district, a county or city, or a non-profit, or as defined in the RFP.
When seeking Federal real estate grant opportunities, the search should focus on either the population to be served, such as Native Americans, or the type of project, such as airport construction or public housing. These grants tend to require very in-depth testing and engineering components. For instance, a grant for a wastewater treatment plant could require soil testing, groundwater testing or similar studies, and this may or may not be covered by the grant funding.
These grants may have funding releases over a time period ranging from a few months to a few years, and require the grant recipient to meet milestones during the life of the grant in order to receive continuation of the funding.
