The Housing Assistance Council (HAC) presents this month's report on Fiscal Year 2020 USDA Rural Housing program obligations.
As of the end of May, USDA obligated 88,196 loans, loan guarantees, and grants totaling about $13,859,393,794. This is $4,778,152,118 more than obligation levels from this time last year. At that time, there were 64,313 loans, loan guarantees, and grants obligated totaling $9,081,241,676.
The agency operated under several continuing resolutions and a 35-day government shutdown last year and obligations have come back to a more normal level in FY 2020. The FY 2020 Consolidated Appropriations Act was signed into law on December 20, 2019 which provided funding for the rest of this fiscal year. As of March 20, 2020, USDA offices began operating from remote locations due to the COVID-19 virus.
Single Family Housing Program Highlights
The Section 502 Guaranteed loan program, the largest of the Single Family Housing programs, obligated $12,967,191,322 (79,509 loan guarantees) up from $8,456,186,019 ( 57,962 loan guarantees) last year.
For the Section 502 Direct program, loan obligations totaled $628,295,797 (3,681 loans), an increase from $469,298,153 (2,975 loans) this time last year. About 41 percent of the loan dollars went to Very low-income (VLI) applicants. VLI loans represented nearly 46 percent of the total number of Section 502 Direct loans.
The Section 504 Repair and Rehabilitation programs obligated 1,722 loans representing $10,377,358. Loan volume was up from this time last year (1,385 loans representing $8,299,424.) There were also about $20,002,484 (3,105 grants) obligated in the Section 504 grant program compared to $11,229,910 (1,863 grants) last year.
USDA's Section 523 Self Help Housing Grant program funded 14 grants and contracts totaling $20,507,710 up from last year's 10 grants and contracts totaling $10,088,093.
USDA funded 3 credit sales representing $309,652.
Multi-Family Housing Programs
USDA's Section 538 Multifamily Housing obligated 92 loan guarantees totaling $145,592,234, higher than last year's 53 loan guarantees ($86,375,887.) In the Section 515 Rural Rental Housing program, there were 11 loans totaling $12,183,157 (including disaster assistance) obligated compared to 40 loans totaling $33,788,303 last year. There have been 4 loans obligated in the MPR program totaling $143,438 so far this year compared to 1 loan representing $537,865 last year.
The Farm Labor Housing programs funded 13 loans and 5 grants totaling $19,670,577 and $5,853,855 respectively. Last year at this time, 5 loans and 2 grants were obligated ($3,587,261 and $1,400,000, respectively.)
No Section 533 Housing Preservation grants have been obligated so far this year, similar to last year at this time.
USDA obligated funds for 135,675 rental assistance units under the Section 521 Rental Assistance program totaling $783,169,468. This compares to about 153,093 units ($808,780,291) obligated same time last year. There were also 5,368 Rural Housing Vouchers totaling $25,051,860 compared to 4,354 vouchers representing $19,380,653 this time last year.
* The Rural Housing Service (RHS) monthly obligation reports are produced by the Housing Assistance Council (HAC) 1025 Vermont Ave., NW, Suite 606, Washington, DC 20005. The monthly figures derive from HAC tabulations of USDA –RHS 205c, d, and f report data. For questions or comments about the obligation reports, please contact Michael Feinberg at 202-842-8600 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
