Socioeconomic Assessment Tool - Determining SRF Disadvantaged Status 

On Sept. 20, 2022, the Environmental Protection Commission (EPC) approved the SFY2023 IUP Q2 update and Annex A for both Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Programs (SRF). With this approval, the SRF Program will begin using the Socioeconomic Assessment Tool (FY 2023) as the affordability criteria used to determine if a community is considered disadvantaged for the purposes of SRF loan forgiveness.

Beginning with the December 1, 2022 application cycle, SRF applicants will be asked to include a copy of the Socioeconomic Assessment Worksheet with their Intended Use Plan Application. The Socioeconomic Assessment Tool can be located on iowasrf.com SRF Resources page under General Information or on the iowasrf.com BIL Funding Opportunities page.

The Socioeconomic Assessment Tool uses 15 datapoints representing social, economic and demographic information from public sources to evaluate a borrower’s relative disadvantage compared to other Iowa communities. SRF applicants with a socioeconomic score between 11-30 points will be eligible for consideration of SRF base program loan forgiveness and may qualify to receive loan forgiveness from the FFY 2022 BIL General DWSRF Supplemental Fund (when combined with the other elements of the loan forgiveness equation).

*NOTE* A separate tool will be developed specifically for BIL Lead Service Line Replacement Funds to evaluate the borrower at the census tract level.

More information on the Socioeconomic Assessment Tool, score matrix and SRF Loan Forgiveness Formula can be found in Annex A to the Clean Water SRF IUP and Annex A to the Drinking Water SRF Intended Use Plan located on the iowasrf.com BIL Funding Opportunities page.