The Tyngsborough Affordable Housing Trust (‘AHT’) through the Office of the Town Manager, is seeking proposals from qualified housing and human services support agencies to help the AHT develop the initial program guidelines and processes for a new Emergency Rental Assistance Program as further described in this Request for Proposals (RFP). This RFP is being issued on behalf of the Affordable Housing Trust by the Town Manager’s Office. The Tyngsborough Affordable Housing Trust (‘AHT’) is seeking assistance from qualifying firms to help the trust put together Tyngsborough’s first Emergency Rental Assistance Program. The AHT is a volunteer, five-member body representing various boards & committees in Tyngsborough and receives professional staff from the Town Manager’s Office. The goal of the proposed Emergency Rental Assistance Program (‘ERAP’) is to create a lifeline for renters in Tyngsborough in need of emergency support for their rental payments. The intention is to make the initial investment into the program using Community Preservation Funds. Before the Community Preservation Committee made the initial investment, they requested the AHT develop a program for their review. The goal of the work under this RFP is to develop the program from beginning to end to present to the CPC understanding that minor changes may be made prior to program adoption. Specifically, the selected vendor will be tasked with: A. Meeting with the AHT and/or its representatives to better understand the intent of the proposed ERAP. B. Using the input from the AHT and best practices in the field as well as guidelines in place in other communities, develop the framework for an ERPA program – specifically: a. Developing eligibility criteria using best practices; b. Developing an application process assuming the process will be managed by an external third-party selected through a separate RFP; c. Develop funding limits & other program restrictions and/or regulations; d. Develop reporting procedures & metrics that can be used to assess success of the program; e. Develop strategies for community outreach for use to market the program following launch; C. Presenting the final proposed program to the Affordable Housing Trust and Community Preservation Committee and soliciting feedback. a. Selected vendor will be asked to make one round of programmatic revisions based on feedback provided during this review period. D. Organizing the final program into a set of documents that can be implemented by the Town and a third-party vendor selected through a separate non-profit. a. If the vendor selected to perform the work under this RFP also provides programmatic administration, the vendor will receive preferential review in a subsequent RFP for program administration.
