Stacey Epperson, Executive Director of Next Step, has been selected as one of 11 recipients of an Ashoka fellowhip for leading social entrepreneurs. For more information on this award, go to Next Step’s website.
For more on Ashoka, visit https://usa.ashoka.org/.
Moises Loza, HAC’s Executive Director, and Stefani Cox, former Research Assistant, authored a report on Commissioning Youth calling for the creation of a Colonias Regional Commission.
This section is part of a larger report, Big Ideas: Children in the Southwest, from First Focus.
In a notice that will be published in the Federal Register on Monday, September 24, 2012, USDA Rural Development extends the deadline to apply for Section 514/516 Farm Labor Housing funds to October 31, 2012. The notice also changes provisions relating to use of Low Income Housing Tax Credits.
The September 24 notice will be available here until early in the morning of September 24. Then it will be posted in its official form here (click on the link for “today’s issue of the Federal Register”).
The NOFA, published in the Federal Register on July 18, 2012, is available here.
By Leslie Strauss
September 13, 2012
It’s less expensive for the government to guarantee a loan made by a bank than to be the lender itself. FHA and VA loan guarantees are well known and well used. It’s not surprising, then, that there has been a shift in USDA’s lending too, away from direct loans towards guarantees, especially after recent changes made USDA’s guarantee programs self-supporting. But guarantees cannot replace direct loans — they serve different populations.
The Housing Assistance Council (HAC) is pleased to announce a new 2012 rural housing project planning and capacity building initiative. HAC will make grant awards to ten experienced affordable housing organizations. Selected groups will use the approximately $20,000 grant funds to plan the new construction, or rehab/preservation, of affordable ownership or rental housing in rural communities. Funding can support certain early feasibility and pre-development activities as well as build the housing staff capacity while they pursue an identified project during the grant period. Please note that applications are due October 2, 2012. Download the application for further details.
USDA will fund three regional contractors to provide technical assistance to those seeking to develop Section 514/516 Farm Labor Housing. Applications are due on November 5, 2012.
The Federal Register funding notice is available here. USDA’s press release about this program is available here.
For further information, contact Mirna Reyes-Bible, 202-720-1753.
The Florida Home Partnership (FHP), in celebration of National Homeownership Month, gathered over 100 volunteers to help build a playground for its Bayou Pass Village Phase III development. Tammye Treviño, Administrator for USDA’s Housing and Community Facilities Program and HAC’s Executive Director Moises Loza participated in this event.
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HAC has learned that the following message was sent by USDA’s Office of Congressional Relations to members of Congress on August 20.
. . . RHS will forego the release of the NOFA for Sec. 515 new construction projects. This decision not to fund new construction was due to the need to conform with the law as interpreted by the Supreme Court (Salazar v. Ramah), which stated that if agencies had outstanding contracts and sufficient appropriations, they must fund any of those contracts. OGC determined that the decision was relevant to the contracts, known as Rental Assistance Incentive contracts, entered into by the Rural Housing Service to avert prepayment of Section 515 rental housing through offers of prepayment incentives to the project owners.
We understand our stakeholders’ disappointment in RD’s decision not to fund 515 new construction. RD had intended to issue a NOFA; the notice was in clearance at the time of the Salazar decision. The delay led to insufficient time for Federal Register notice of a NOFA, application process and ultimate obligation prior to the end of the fiscal year. The Supreme Court’s decision has forced RD to change its priorities and use 515 appropriations to fund prepayment incentives (equity loans and RA). However, the limited funding left in the 515 program will be used to rehabilitate existing 515 housing, or facilitate the sale of RD inventory properties to owners adept at finding additional resources to revitalize the properties. There is an urgent need for RD to revitalize its existing portfolio of aging rental housing. Since the cost to rehabilitate our existing housing is less than the cost of new construction, the limited funding left in the 515 program will go further and in the time required, prior to fiscal year end.
Thurs., Aug. 17, 2012 – CBS News aired a story on USDA rural housing, along the same lines as the Wall Street Journal article published in May regarding RD’s housing foreclosures and servicing practices. The story aired on August 16, and included an interview with Tammye Trevino, administrator of the USDA RD’s Housing and Community Facilities Programs
Fri., Sept. 28, 2012 – USDA issued a new version of Administrative Notice (AN) 4679, dated September 27 rather than September 25, that eliminates a confusing sentence in the summary on page 5. In the first version released, the paragraph read as follows. The italicized sentence has now been deleted.
Usage of 2010 Census and ACS data when determining population and income eligibility ensures that program funds are utilized in accordance with program statutes. Complete applications on hand as of March 27, 2013, maybe processed using 2000 Census data provided that written determination of eligibility and evidence of all documents necessary to be deemed complete exist, and that the application can be obligated no later than September 30, 2013. This does not apply to applications on hand where the applicant is eligible as the result of legislative provisions that expire upon receipt of the next decennial census.
Wed., Sept. 26, 2012 – USDA has announced that current area eligibility will remain unchanged until March 27, 2013. In other words, until that date 2010 Census data will not be used to determine what places fit the definition of rural that determines eligibility for USDA Rural Development programs.
Wed., Aug. 15 – On Aug. 10 the National Rural Housing Coalition reported that 24 members of the House had signed Rep. Fortenberry’s letter to House leadership asking for a one-year grandfathering provision in the continuing resolution: Reps. Dan Boren (D-OK), Charles W. Boustany, Jr. (R-LA), Francisco Canseco (R-TX), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Lois Capps (D-CA), William Cassidy (R-LA), Kathy Castor (D-FL), David Cicilline (D-RI), Jim Costa (D-CA), Bob Filner (D-CA), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Frank Guinta (R-NH), Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX), William Keating (D-MA), Jim Langevin (D-RI), Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO), Don Manzullo (R-IL), Jim Matheson (D-UT), Mike McIntyre (D-NC), Michael Michaud (D-ME), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Tim Ryan (D-OH), and Bennie Thompson (D-MS).
Two updates – Tues., Aug. 14, 2012 – HAC sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on August 13 asking him to postpone applying the 2010 Census data to the definition of rural for USDA’s housing programs.
The issue is still pending in Congress as well. The previously expected vehicles – the USDA appropriations bill or the Farm Bill – will not be enacted before the new fiscal year begins, so Rep. Fortenberry is now seeking cosigners for a letter to House leadership asking them to include a one-year rural housing grandfathering provision in the continuing resolution or any omnibus appropriations bills. Additional information is available from the National Rural Housing Coalition.
Wed., July 11– There are now 14 cosponsors to Rep. Fortenberry’s amendment, and his office continues to add more. The current cosponsors are Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Lois Capps (D-CA), Jim Costa (D-CA), Joe Courtney (D-CT), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX), Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), Don Manzullo (R-IL), Ron Paul (R-TX), Steve Pearce (R-NM), Tim Ryan (D-OH), Bennie Thompson (D-MS), and Don Young (R-AK)
Wed., June 27 – HAC supports an effort now underway to add a grandfathering provision to the House’s USDA appropriations bill for FY13. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) is currently seeking cosponsors for an amendment that would extend eligibility through the end of FY13 for places that were eligible before the 2010 Census and have current populations under 35,000 but would become ineligible because of population growth between the 2000 and 2010 Censuses.
The House is not expected to vote on the agriculture appropriations bill until the week of July 9 at the earliest.
The National Rural Housing Coalition obtained a draft spreadsheet from USDA listing 923 communities that may become ineligible for USDA rural housing funds on October 1 if Congress does not pass legislation to extend their eligibility. USDA’s “impact key” explaining the shorthand used in the spreadsheet is also available.
Background information on this issue is available here.
Thurs., June 21 – The Farm Bill, including the Nelson Amendment, passed the Senate.
Wed. afternoon, June 20 – Amendment 2242 (details below) passed the Senate by a voice vote. No one spoke in opposition.
Senate votes on Farm Bill amendments will be completed today or tomorrow. The House has not yet begun its consideration of the Farm Bill, however, so final enactment of the bill and this provision are not imminent.
As noted below, the USDA appropriations bill for FY13 remains a possible vehicle for a one-year grandfathering provision because language is included in the bill that passed the Senate Appropriations Committee. It is not, however, included in the appropriations bill that passed the House Committee on June 19.
Wed. morning, June 20 – The Senate did not vote on amendment 2242 yesterday, but will take up the Farm Bill again today.
Tues., June 19, 2012 – The Senate is expected to vote soon on language to address the issue of eligibility for USDA’s rural housing programs for places that were eligible before the 2010 Census but gained population and could become ineligible based on their 2010 population size. The Housing Assistance Council supports this change, as does the National Rural Housing Coalition.
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) has offered an amendment (#2242) to the Farm Bill (S. 3240) that would keep these places eligible so long as their population in 2010 was below 35,000. (The population cap is 25,000 in the current grandfathering provision, which applies to places that were eligible before the 1990 and 2000 Censuses.) The Senate is scheduled to begin voting on Farm Bill amendments this afternoon (June 19) and continue in future days. It is not clear exactly when this amendment will be considered.
Nelson’s amendment would maintain the status quo until the 2020 Census; it is not a one-year grandfathering provision, like the one included in the FY13 USDA appropriations bill passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
This amendment does not impact the general population limits for eligibility in non-grandfathered places. That is a separate issue and is not currently under active consideration on the Hill.
HAC post on Shelterforce’s Rooflines blog
National Rural Housing Coalition summary
USDA draft spreadsheet listing 923 communities that may become ineligible, and “impact key” explaining the shorthand used in the spreadsheet
HAC paper estimating the impact on eligibility if grandfathering is not adopted (estimating 500 eligible places could become ineligible on October 1, 2012)
Posted: June 19, 2012
Last updated: August 14, 2012
If you have difficulty with any of the links on this page, contact Leslie Strauss at HAC.