Addressing the Housing Affordability Crisis Research Grant Program

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), through its Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R), is soliciting applications for the Addressing the Housing Affordability Crisis Research Grant Program under funding opportunity number FR-6900-N-29R. This discretionary grant program seeks to fund high-quality research projects that contribute to understanding and responding to the housing affordability crisis in the United States. Applicants must review the full Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to understand eligibility, submission requirements, evaluation criteria, and post-award responsibilities. Applications must be submitted via Grants.gov by 11:59:59 PM Eastern Time on July 24, 2025. The primary purpose of this program is to generate actionable research and evidence to inform short-term housing affordability policy decisions at the federal, state, and local levels. The program supports five eligible research categories: government-induced demand and housing affordability, immigration and housing affordability, the financialization of housing, economic opportunity cost of housing, and the impact of Opportunity Zones. The goal is to advance policy-relevant research that aligns with recent Executive Orders focusing on affordability, equity, and efficient governance. The program especially encourages participation from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), and other Minority Serving Institutions. The total available funding is approximately $10 million, combining FY 2024 and FY 2025 funds. HUD anticipates issuing between 5 and 40 awards, with individual awards ranging from $250,000 to $2,000,000. The funding instrument will be a cooperative agreement, indicating substantial HUD involvement in project execution. Projects may span from 12 to 36 months, depending on complexity. Required deliverables include a project management plan, research design, quarterly progress reports, final research products, and a final briefing to HUD. Award recipients must comply with federal cost principles and are not allowed to earn profits or evaluate their own organization. Eligible applicants include public and private institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3)), for-profit organizations other than small businesses, and small businesses. Individuals are not eligible. Faith-based organizations may apply under the same terms as other entities. No cost sharing or matching is required. To be considered, applicants must be registered in SAM.gov and Grants.gov and must include all required documentation, including SF-424, HUD-424B, SF-LLL (if applicable), HUD-2880, budget forms, narrative responses, resumes, and letters of commitment where needed. Narrative components must not exceed 35 pages in total. Applications will undergo threshold review, merit review, and risk review. Proposals must achieve a minimum score of 70 out of 100 to be eligible for funding. Key evaluation factors include the contribution of proposed research, soundness of approach, team capacity, project management strategy, and budget reasonableness. HUD reserves the right to fund applications partially, adjust award amounts, or make no awards. The anticipated award date is September 15, 2025, with a performance start date of October 1, 2025. For technical questions or programmatic inquiries, applicants may contact Michael Stewart at researchpartnerships@hud.gov or by phone at 202-402-2258. Waiver requests for paper application submission must be submitted at least 15 days before the deadline to Carol Gilliam at the same email. Applicants are encouraged to subscribe to HUD’s funding listserv for updates. The final research outputs may be published on HUD’s website and are expected to meet Section 508 accessibility standards.

Include annual deliverables and structure narrative tightly around one of the five eligible research categories. Be sure to emphasize actionable policy outputs.