In this subtitle the following words have the meanings indicated. “Fund” means the Neighborhood Housing Services Fund. “Neighborhood corporation” means a neighborhood housing services corporation established in connection with the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation. “Operating budget” means the money necessary to operate a neighborhood corporation, including money to pay: administrative, technical, legal, or other expenses; and expenses incurred by an umbrella corporation in operating programs. “Operating budget” does not include money allocated to revolving or other loan funds. “Program” means a program that a neighborhood corporation establishes and supervises to achieve its goals and to provide services within a specific neighborhood. “Umbrella corporation” means a neighborhood corporation that establishes and supervises at least two programs.

There is a Neighborhood Housing Services Fund. The Department shall administer the Fund.

The Department may adopt regulations to carry out this subtitle.

To be eligible for a grant under this subtitle, a neighborhood corporation or umbrella corporation shall: submit a timely application in the form that the Secretary prescribes; create a board of directors composed of: a member of the General Assembly; neighborhood residents; representatives of local financial institutions; and representatives of local political subdivisions, if not inconsistent with local law; be authorized to establish and administer a revolving loan fund by lending money at flexible rates and terms to neighborhood homeowners who cannot obtain mortgage financing on reasonable terms through normal lending channels to preserve or revitalize neighborhoods and encourage homeownership; and be authorized to establish and administer, in cooperation with appropriate officials of the political subdivision, a housing program to bring neighborhood dwellings to acceptable levels of health and safety. The Secretary or the Secretary’s designee shall be a voting member of each neighborhood corporation receiving grants from the Department. An application for a grant under subsection (a)(1) of this section shall contain: a description of the boundaries of the area that the neighborhood corporation or Program serves; certification that the applicant is registered with the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation; certification of incorporation under State law; certification of receipt of a ruling from the Internal Revenue Service that the applicant is exempt from federal income taxation; certification that the portion of the applicant’s annual operating budget that will not be covered by the grant sought has been provided exclusively from political subdivisions or private sources; and any other information that the Secretary requires.

Each eligible neighborhood corporation may apply for a grant in an amount up to $50,000 that does not exceed one-third of its annual operating budget. Each umbrella corporation may apply for a grant for each program under its supervision in an amount up to $50,000 that does not exceed one-third of the annual operating budget of the program. If the amount requested by eligible applicants in a fiscal year exceeds the amount of the Fund, the Secretary shall reduce each grant pro rata so that the Fund amount appropriated for that fiscal year is not exceeded.