HOF advisory board adopts Demo Dollars rollout plan, allocates $350,000 for emergency requests and sets regular review cadence

The Housing Opportunity Fund advisory board on March 4 agreed on guidelines and a rollout plan for “Demo Dollars,” a new HOF program to fund innovative housing pilot concepts and urgent or emergency housing needs.

URA staff described Demo Dollars as grant funding intended to "maximize housing stability and increase affordable housing supply in the city of Pittsburgh by funding imaginative and new housing solutions that cannot be funded by existing URA programs, and that respond to housing emergencies quickly," and said the program will be open to nonprofit agencies and to for-profit developers partnering with nonprofits.

The advisory board set an initial allocation strategy: use the available 2024 HOF balance (approximately $350,000) for the emergency/urgent bucket and reserve a future 2025 allocation (about $300,000, to be confirmed when received) for innovation and pilot projects. Board members agreed that if pilot funds go unspent they could be rolled into the emergency pool at year end.

Board members discussed application structure and intake. URA staff said the JotForm application will be bifurcated so applicants select either an emergency/urgent request or an innovation/pilot request; the middle sections of the form will change depending on the selection. Staff emphasized that Demo Dollars are written as grants (not loans) and are targeted at projects serving households at 80% AMI and below, consistent with other HOF programs, with limited exceptions for programs that already serve beyond 80% AMI (for example, down payment programs).

On review process and timing, the board sought a faster pathway for emergency requests than the standard monthly meeting cycle. Members reached consensus on a near-term operating cadence: URA will open the emergency round immediately after getting URA board approval (staff indicated the URA board would consider the guidelines next week). The advisory board also agreed to hold a standing 30‑minute slot at 3:00 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month to review applications that require expedited attention; URA staff will cancel recurring meetings if no applications arrive.

For innovation funding rounds, URA staff will draft and circulate evaluation criteria/scoring documents to the advisory board for review and approval before opening any time‑limited innovation RFP. Board members said they want transparency around how applications will be scored and asked that evaluation criteria be published along with the application materials.

Board members discussed expedited decision mechanics for emergencies: options include a small subcommittee that reviews and votes, or a time‑limited email vote by the broader board. URA staff said either approach is feasible; the board agreed that a quorum‑level review is required and that decisions finalized by email or subcommittee should be ratified at the next public advisory board meeting. URA staff estimated an administrative check‑request process would add about one week to payment processing after approval, and that with an expedited review path the overall approval-to-payment timeline could be about three weeks in many cases.

The board asked URA to add guidance to the application materials clarifying typical turnaround times (URA staff said three weeks is a reasonable expectation for emergency decisions) and to include a field asking whether applicants can front expenses pending reimbursement. URA staff also committed to return to the advisory board with a scoring rubric for the innovation track.

The advisory board voted to adopt the Demo Dollars guidelines and the rollout plan and authorized URA to open the emergency round after URA board approval; the group set the initial emergency allocation at roughly $350,000 and the innovation allocation at roughly $300,000 pending receipt of the 2025 appropriation.