TOP STORIES

Budget reconciliation bill passes House, moves to Senate

The House of Representatives passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1) on May 22. The Senate will now consider the bill and is expected to make changes. The House version includes some tax provisions that are favorable for rural housing and development. Other parts of the bill, however, would require cuts to domestic discretionary programs such as Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and SNAP (food stamps); limit the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit; reduce the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s annual funding; and eliminate clean energy programs and tax provisions including HUD’s Green and Resilient Retrofit Program. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill’s net impact would reduce resources for people in the lowest 10% of income distribution and increase them for people in the highest 10%, and that about 3.2 million people would lose SNAP benefits.

Judge pauses some federal layoffs

On May 22, a federal judge in California indefinitely extended her freeze of the administration’s “reductions in force” (RIFs) and accompanying reorganizations of agencies. Her preliminary injunction applies to many federal agencies including USDA, HUD, VA, and the Treasury Department, but does not cover the Federal Housing Finance Agency or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. (CFPB is the subject of separate litigation.) The judge also took a step towards rescinding the RIFs and ordering staff to return to work at the agencies covered by the suit. The administration has appealed the preliminary injunction.

Rural housing needs federal support, fact sheet says

Rural America Cannot Address Housing Needs Without Federal Investments summarizes data and barriers to rural housing development, including persistent poverty, higher infrastructure costs, a history of economic disinvestment in rural communities, and chronically declining federal investments in USDA’s Rural Housing Service. Published jointly by HAC, the National Low Income Housing Coalition, and the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the fact sheet also suggests federal policy solutions.

Call for workshop proposals: 2025 National Rural Housing Conference

The Housing Assistance Council is seeking engaging, hands-on workshop proposals for the National Rural Housing Conference to be held November 4-7 in Washington, DC. The deadline to submit your proposal is June 15. If your work advances housing or community development in rural America, we want to hear from you! Learn more about HAC workshops and how to submit a proposal here.

RuralSTAT

The unemployment rate outside of metropolitan areas currently stands at 3.8%. Approximately 798,000 rural workers were unemployed as of the most recent estimates in April (not seasonally adjusted). Source: Housing Assistance Council tabulations of the Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics data.

To learn more about economic conditions in your community, visit Rural Data Central.

OPPORTUNITIES

HUD offers CoCBuilds grants for permanent supportive housing

The Continuum of Care Builds program will make grants to nonprofits, state and local governments, Tribes and Tribal organizations, and PHAs to add new units of permanent supportive housing through new construction, acquisition, and rehabilitation. Apply by June 26.

REGULATIONS AND FEDERAL AGENCIES

Input requested on federal collaboration with other governments

The Administrative Conference of the United States describes itself as “an independent federal agency within the executive branch whose statutory mission is to identify ways to improve the procedures by which federal agencies protect the public interest and determine the rights, privileges, and obligations of private persons.” It is requesting public comments on federal agency approaches and processes for collaborating with state, local, Tribal, and territorial governments when administering federal programs. The information gathered may be used to generate recommendations of best practices for federal agencies to use. Comments are due July 28.

More USDA RD state directors named

Adding to the list announced earlier this month, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins has identified several more state directors for USDA Rural Development and other agencies.

Digital equity programs serving rural residents are canceled

On May 9, the administration canceled three digital equity programs created in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, charging that they were illegally based on race. The programs were intended to make information technology available to rural residents as well as to people who are elderly, incarcerated, veterans, individuals with disabilities, those with a language barrier, and members of racial or ethnic minority groups.

GAO rules Impoundment Control Act violated

In a non-binding legal opinion with implications for numerous administration actions, the Government Accountability Office concluded that the administration’s suspension of a grant program at the Department of Transportation violated the Impoundment Control Act. The ICA, enacted in 1974, limits the president’s authority to refuse to spend monies appropriated by Congress.

EVENTS

Rural fundraising webinar offered

Fundraising for Rural Nonprofits will be held on June 11 by GrantStation. There is a $69 registration fee.

Rural rental preservation training sessions set

Enterprise Community Partners’ Rural Housing Preservation Academy is a series of no-cost training and peer learning sessions designed to help rural housing providers acquire and/or preserve USDA RD, HUD, and LIHTC financed housing. Two webinars are scheduled in June. Cost of Doing Repairs/Construction Items, to be held on June 4, will cover the hard-cost items in the development budget and what construction-related items RD requires in a Section 515 transfer application. Understanding the Simple Transfer and Chapter 7, planned for June 18, will go over USDA’s simple transfer process and take a deeper look into what forms are required for this process through case studies. Recordings and materials from past sessions are also available.

Webinar to consider future of historic Black towns

PolicyLink will hold a webinar on June 10 grounded in Repairing Roots: Historic Black Towns and Spatial Reclamation, a publication that centers the legacy and leadership of historic Black towns and settlements. This conversation will emphasize descendant-led strategies and partnerships as essential to securing the future of these cultural and historical spaces, creating the conditions for justice and repair.

PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA

Brief provides state and local fair housing examples

Affirming Belonging: Expanding State and Local AFFH Efforts, a brief from PolicyLink and the Policy and Race Research Action Council, asserts that state and local governments can play a central role in ensuring fair, inclusive housing for all. It offers recommendations, best practices, and examples of existing state and local policies aimed at affirmatively furthering fair housing.

Annual advocates’ guide released

Advocates’ Guide 2025, published by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, provides an overview of federal housing programs and policies.

Climate is a risk component for mortgage lenders, research concludes

Climate, the Sixth “C” of Credit, a new First Street report, analyzes the relationship between physical climate risk and mortgage defaults. With shifts in the insurance industry and the rising incidence of disasters, homeowners’ insurance is less likely to protect lenders against disaster-related losses. First Street concludes that physical climate risk has become the sixth “C” of credit assessment, a critical factor to be evaluated alongside the traditional metrics of character, capacity, capital, collateral, and conditions.

HAC

The Home Depot Foundation and HAC award grants for veterans’ housing

The Home Depot Foundation is awarding grants totaling $450,000 to 15 local nonprofit housing agencies around the country to preserve housing for veterans in rural America. The grants are part of the foundation’s mission to provide affordable and accessible housing solutions to U.S. veterans and invest $750 million in veteran causes by 2030. As part of its Affordable Housing for Rural Veterans Initiative, HAC works with The Home Depot Foundation to administer grants that bolster and support the work of rural nonprofit housing agencies to deliver critical housing support to veterans.

Placemaking project begins to take shape

Heart of Ellsworth has taken a significant step forward in the revitalization of the Riverwalk North trail in Ellsworth, Maine. The organization participated in the 2023-2024 Design Learning Cohort of the Citizens’ Institute for Rural Design, a leadership initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with HAC. In collaboration with the Ellsworth Public Library, Frenchman Bay Conservancy, and the Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium, Heart of Ellsworth recently installed the trail’s first three sculptures at Ellsworth Public Library. This installation marks the beginning of a broader vision to transform Riverwalk North into a vibrant cultural corridor – one that seamlessly blends art, culture, and outdoor recreation along Ellsworth’s scenic waterfront.

Need capital for your affordable housing project?

HAC’s loan fund provides low interest rate loans to support single- and multifamily affordable housing projects for low-income rural residents throughout the U.S. and territories. Capital is available for all types of affordable and mixed-income housing projects, including preservation, new development, farmworker, senior and veteran housing. HAC loan funds can be used for pre-development, site acquisition, site development, construction/rehabilitation and permanent financing. Contact HAC’s loan fund staff at hacloanfund@ruralhome.org, 202-842-8600.

Please note: HAC is not able to offer loans to individuals or families. Borrowers must be nonprofit or for-profit organizations or government entities (including Tribes).

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