Assembling and filing the OHFA application — two very different tracks — Ohio

Two OHFA tracks, two shapes of a submission

The 9% competitive round is a genuine two-stage process. A development entity first has to clear Experience & Capacity (and CHDO certification, if applicable) in its own dedicated submission window before it's even allowed to submit a Proposal Application — in the 2026 cycle that window ran December 2, 2025 through January 8, 2026, well ahead of the February 26, 2026 Proposal Application deadline. Proposal Applications get a Preliminary Competitive Scoring and Minimum Threshold/Underwriting Review with a brief cure period; only applications that clear that review and are approved for reservation by the OHFA Board are invited to submit a Final Application, due September 17, 2026 in the 2026 cycle.

The 4% program is structurally simpler and procedurally different: there is no Proposal/Final split. "4% LIHTC Only" applications (without competitive gap financing or state LIHTC) are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis inside an annual application window running from the first Monday in February through the last Friday in October. A given deal still needs Experience & Capacity approval before it can submit, but it's a single filing evaluated as it comes in, not a two-round competition.

The mechanics of the File Transfer Site — and what still goes in the mail

Every submission — Experience & Capacity/CHDO Certification, Proposal Application, Final Application, and the 4% filing — goes through OHFA's Multifamily Development File Transfer Site (FTS) as a single .ZIP file per project. OHFA explicitly will not accept applications by email, Dropbox, Google Drive, or flash drive. A confirmation email fires automatically on successful upload, and applicants without existing FTS access have to email MultifamilyFTP@ohiohome.org ahead of the relevant deadline to get set up.

All application fees — the Proposal Application Fee, Final Application Fee, Reservation Fee, 4% Application Fee, Bond Issuance Fee — must be paid by Automated Clearing House (ACH). OHFA does not accept checks and has no online ACH payment portal; the applicant's bank initiates the wire using instructions posted on the FTS, and the fee is due by the applicable deadline.

One requirement doesn't go through the FTS at all: an 11" x 17" hard copy of the architectural plans has to be mailed to OHFA's Office of Multifamily Housing in Columbus, in accordance with the Design and Architectural Standards. The plan set differs by stage — preliminary architectural plans at Proposal Application, an 80% permit set at Final Application — and missing that distinction is a common, avoidable stumble.

What actually gets reviewed at each gate

After Proposal Application, OHFA staff run a Preliminary Competitive Scoring review against the applicant's self-score alongside a Minimum Threshold and Underwriting Review (cost containment, conditional financial commitments, DSCR standards, rental subsidy documentation). Applicants get a brief cure period per the Program Calendar to correct deficiencies or appeal scoring reductions — no new point-scoring items can be introduced during the cure window. Reservations are then presented to the OHFA Board, and applicants who reserve receive a Conditional Qualification Letter (CQL) — explicitly not a funding commitment.

Final Application triggers a full Threshold, Underwriting, Competitive, and Architectural Review. Applicants get two weeks to cure any deficiencies the assigned analyst flags; unless OHFA states otherwise, uncured deficiencies stop the application from moving to a Carryover Allocation Agreement. A concurrent architectural review has to reach "Conditional Approval" for the same reason. Once threshold, underwriting, and design clear, OHFA prepares an Executive Summary that's posted publicly to OHFA's BoardDocs site ahead of Multifamily Committee and Board approval — applicants are encouraged to attend the meeting at which their project is presented.