The Housing Assistance Council (HAC) presents this month’s report on Fiscal Year 2021 USDA Rural Housing program obligations.
As of the end of March, USDA obligated 71,904 loans, loan guarantees, and grants totaling about $12.3 billion. This is $2.2 billion higher than obligation levels from this time last year. At that time, there were 65,473 loans, loan guarantees, and grants obligated totaling $10.2 billion.
Federal agencies operated under a series of short-term continuing resolutions (CR) for most of the first quarter of FY 2021. A final CR was signed into law on December 27, 2020 which provides funding for the remainder of the fiscal year. Since March 20, 2020, USDA offices have been 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 nearly $11.8 billion (66,860 loan guarantees.) Last year there were $9.5 billion (59,106 loan guarantees) at this time.
For the Section 502 Direct program, loan obligations totaled $452.6 million (2,488 loans.) At this time last year, the obligation level was $456.5 million (2,676 loans.) About 38 percent of the loan dollars went to Very Low-income (VLI) applicants. VLI loans represented over 44 percent of the total number of Section 502 Direct loans.
The Section 504 Repair and Rehabilitation programs obligated 938 loans representing $5.6 million. Loan volume last year at this time was 1,258 loans representing $7.6 million. There were also about $9.9 million (1,541 grants) obligated in the Section 504 grant program compared to nearly $15 million (2,331 grants) last year.
USDA's Section 523 Self Help Housing Grant program funded 21 grants and contracts totaling $15 million up from last year's 6 grants and contracts totaling $4.4 million.
Multi-Family Housing Programs
USDA’s Section 538 Multifamily Housing program obligated 44 loan guarantees totaling $113.9 million compared to last year’s 69 loan guarantees ($117 million.) No Section 515 Rural Rental Housing program have been funded so far this year, compared to $11.4 million last year at this time. There have been no loans or grants obligated in the MPR program similar to this time last year.
No Farm Labor Housing loans or grants have been funded so far this year. Last year at this time, 9 loans and 5 grants were obligated ($18.6 million and $5.9 million, respectively.)
USDA obligated funds for 119,178 rental assistance units under the Section 521 Rental Assistance program totaling nearly $704 million. This compares to about 84,967 units ($487 million) obligated same time last year. There were also 2,354 Rural Housing Vouchers totaling nearly $11.7 million compared to 4,125 vouchers representing over $19.1 million 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 .
