As of August 2015 the majority of rural counties have gained jobs compared to the same period last year. But energy-producing regions like the eastern coalfields and northern Great Plains have suffered. From The Daily Yonder.
HAC is hosting a two track training in Charleston, SC on November 19-20. Sharpening Your Skills: Financial Management for Rural Nonprofits will offer a general introduction to financial management for nonprofit organizations. Participants of Utilizing the LIHTC Pro-gram: Creating and Preserving Affordable Housing will obtain a basic understanding of the fundamentals of LIHTC.
by Keith Wiley
The number of rural loan applications fell last year because of a big decline in refinancing. But loan applications for home purchases grew by nearly 7 percent, even higher than the national increase. Also on the rise in rural areas were higher-interest loans, which are especially common for manufactured housing purchases.
Read the Complete blog post at The Daily Yonder
by Keith Wiley
The number of rural loan applications fell last year because of a big decline in refinancing. But loan applications for home purchases grew by nearly 7 percent, even higher than the national increase. Also on the rise in rural areas were higher-interest loans, which are especially common for manufactured housing purchases.
Recently released data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) signals a changing home finance market across the nation and rural America too. The 2015 HMDA figures, which reflect calendar year 2014 mortgage lending applications, show a substantial nationwide decline in overall mortgage activity. In fact, the total number of HMDA reported loan records in 2014 was the lowest level in the past 17 years.
An article in The Daily Yonder “Rural and Homeless: ‘I Had No Place to Go’”, describes the work of the Corner Haven Crisis Center in addressing rural homelessness in Eastern Kentucky. Statistics on national rural homelessness rates are included in the piece.
USDA is leading a cross-agency effort to combat child poverty in rural areas with the Administration’s “Rural Impact” effort. Ten rural and tribal communities from across the country will participate in the demonstration program.
New protections for farmworkers applying pesticides are provided in an EPA rule released September 19. It enhances requirements for training, protective equipment, and more. It also requires workers applying pesticides to be 18 or over.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a final rule September 21 on mortgage lending by small creditors. Among other changes, it expands the definitions of small creditors and rural places in the CFPB’s mortgage regulations.
Nearly half of all renters in the U.S. are cost-burdened, spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing, according to a new report from Enterprise Community Partners and the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.
Two recent opinion pieces discuss the problems with proposed cuts to the HOME program. The LA Times explains how the decrease is already hurting California, and Roll Call’s Beltway Insiders details the value of the program nationally.
Long-time HAC Loan Fund borrower Florida Home Partnership was recently ranked #16 in production of all Builders in Tampa Bay in 2014 by Tampa Bay Business Journal. This is the third time they have received this honor on the last 4 years.