Pima County Community & Workforce Development (CWD) is accepting proposals under Pima County GAP Funding for Affordable Housing Development and Preservation 5.0, RFP RFP-CWD-AHF-2026-0901. The program supports development, preservation, acquisition, rehabilitation, and adaptive reuse of affordable housing in Pima County, including bridge and transitional housing serving people experiencing homelessness.
Funding and deadline
The Pima County Board of Supervisors designated $8.7 million for the Affordable Housing Fund for FY 2026-2027. The RFP states that approximately $5 million is anticipated for this GAP Funding round, subject to formal Board acceptance. Each project is capped at $1 million.
Submission deadline: September 30, 2026 at 5:00 PM Arizona Time. The final date for written inquiries is September 23, 2026. Pima County posted its latest FAQ update on September 21, 2026.
Eligibility and project categories
Qualified for-profit and nonprofit developers, contractors, builders, governmental agencies, and partnerships may apply. The four published categories are: (1) new rental development; (2) new homeownership development; (3) preservation, rehabilitation, acquisition, and/or adaptive reuse of existing projects; and (4) new bridge and/or transitional housing.
Rental and existing-project awards must support housing affordable to households at or below 80% AMI for at least 30 years. Homeownership projects must serve households at or below 80% AMI with a minimum 20-year affordability period. Bridge/transitional projects must expand units for individuals experiencing homelessness and maintain the qualifying use for at least 30 years.
Eligible and ineligible costs
Eligible uses include acquisition costs directly related to qualifying affordable-housing construction or preservation, site improvements tied to construction or renovation, construction or renovation of qualifying affordable units, and construction or renovation of bridge/transitional housing serving people experiencing homelessness.
Published exclusions include non-qualifying housing, commercial property other than multifamily housing, specified luxury or nonessential improvements, and items that do not meet applicable depreciation/useful-life requirements. Applicants should use the controlling RFP and ZoomGrants library to test each proposed cost.
Match, leverage, and financial feasibility
The RFP does not state a universal mandatory applicant match requirement. However, financial leverage is scored: external-source leverage of 1:1-3:1 earns 1 point, 4:1-7:1 earns 3 points, and 8:1-10:1 earns 5 points. Projects seeking Low Income Housing Tax Credits must disclose that plan, and Pima County may limit an award to the minimum local match required by the Arizona Department of Housing where that requirement applies. Atlas will not treat that project-specific LIHTC/local-support provision as a universal match requirement.
Submission, scoring, and procurement controls
Proposals must be submitted through the Pima County ZoomGrants portal and include a cover letter signed by a person authorized to bind the proposer. Paper proposals are not accepted. Late, financially infeasible, incomplete, attachment-deficient, or instruction-noncompliant proposals will not advance.
The published evaluation totals 100 points before a Tribal-community bonus: Proposer Mission, Experience & Executive Summary (15); Project Description (40); Project Costs (19); and Addressing Poverty, Community Benefit & Population (26). Tribal-community projects may receive a 25-point bonus. Contractor/subcontractor selection, project cash flow, community support, energy efficiency, project readiness, and completion within 18 months of contract approval are among the scored elements.
FAQ and amendments
The September 21 FAQ confirms that multiple units or subdivisions should be submitted in one application, reiterates the approximately $5 million program amount and $1 million project cap, explains that the County may redeploy funds if an awarded project cannot advance, and states that an acquisition may still be proposed where the applicant buys the property with its own funds before awards and seeks reimbursement if selected. The September 21 update also confirms that motel-to-apartment adaptive reuse can qualify, mixed-income projects may restrict only the affordable subset, affiliated general contractors are allowed with competitive bidding preferred rather than mandatory, and formal HUD Davis-Bacon and Section 3 requirements do not apply to this County funding. Applicants remain responsible for checking the County RFP page for later clarifications or amendments.
Contacts
Written questions must be directed to Dan Sullivan, Director, Pima County Community & Workforce Development, at Daniel.Sullivan@pima.gov and copied to cwd_affordable_housing@pima.gov, with GAP Funding RFP in the subject line.
Atlas fit assessment
Atlas Opportunity Score: 80/100. N9+ Fit: 0/100. QC Healthcare Fit: 0/100. Dr. Miltie direct-applicant/direct-vendor fit: 0/100. This is a legitimate community-health and housing-stability opportunity, especially for bridge/transitional housing serving people experiencing homelessness, but the controlling funding purpose is affordable-housing acquisition, development, preservation, and capital improvement. Atlas will not force a telehealth, remote-exam, RPM, staffing, or healthcare-vendor fit.
Realistic Arizona applicant profile
Prior-round award history demonstrates that Pima County has funded qualified community-health and human-services organizations with housing projects. COPE Community Services received a $1 million recommendation for Shasta Apartments in the 4.0 round, and Old Pueblo Community Services received $500,000 for Veterans Housing. COPE Community Services provisional Applicant Opportunity Score: 94/100. Current official leadership identifies Rod Cook as CEO. COPE remains a particularly strong provisional organizational fit because it provides integrated physical and behavioral healthcare alongside residential and apartment-based programming in the Tucson area. Any 5.0 application would still require a current qualifying project, project-specific budget, readiness documentation, financial feasibility, and all required approvals; Atlas has not assumed or fabricated such a project.
Verification
Last verified September 22, 2026 against Pima County CWD’s current RFP page, the official 5.0 application instructions, the September 21 FAQ update, and the prior-round award notice.