The Resilient Maryland Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) is a program that offers
low-interest loans (no more than 1%) to local governments to help finance projects and activities that
mitigate the effects of natural hazards.
Local governments can take out RLF loans on behalf of:
- Homeowners
- Businesses
- Nonprofit organizations
- Communities
What can funds be used for?
Primarily, RLF funds are used for increasing resilience and mitigating the effects of disasters, including (but not limited to):
- Floods
- Snowstorms
- Tornadoes
- Extreme heat
- Severe storms & storm surges
- High water levels and/or shoreline erosion
- Drought
- Wildfires
- Earthquakes
However, they may also be used to finance:
- Low-impact development
- Wildland-urban interface management
- Conservation areas
- Reconnection of floodplain & open space projects
- Building code adoption
- Zoning & land use planning
-
Satisfying a local government's non-federal cost share requirement for hazard mitigation grants (e.g., Hazard Mitigation Grant Program [HMGP], Flood Mitigation Assistance [FMA], or Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities [BRIC] programs)
What makes an RLF loan special?
There is a wide assortment of available funding in the world of emergency management, but unlike many others, RLF loans stand out because:
- A presidential disaster declaration is not required in order to be eligible for the loan.
- Participation in the National Flood Insurance Program is not required, either!
- They can be put towards the non-federal cost share of hazard mitigation grants, expanding the ability of communities to access even larger funding sources.
- They're designed to be accessible to Maryland's underserved communities. (We have a goal that at least 40% of the loans will go to underserved recipients.)
- They prioritize access to mitigation projects, which have been shown to save $6 in future recovery costs for every $1 spent on them, on average.
Questions & More Info
If you're interested in the Revolving Loan Fund and want to learn more about it, the application process, or any other aspect of the program, you can contact us here:
resilientloan.mdem@maryland.gov
And if you're interested in applying, don't forget to
let us know about your interest in an RLF loan here.
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