This guidebook is intended to help nonprofit and newer affordable housing developers gain a better understanding of how to navigate the credit underwriting process that ensues after a development has been selected for financing by the Florida Housing Finance Corporation.

This guidebook may also be useful to local housing providers in the public sector who evaluate the feasibility of housing projects that have requested funding from local sources, or anyone who has an interest in the mechanics of an affordable housing transaction. Sound credit underwriting procedures are a necessary form of risk management for any affordable housing transaction and should be a priority in evaluating the feasibility of affordable housing developments.

In fashioning these guidelines to set standards for compliance with local, state and federal housing finance programs, it is important to ensure that the guidelines advance local housing objectives, and that the selection of projects will serve the specific needs for housing within the community.