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Housing Assistance Council Statement on Reconciliation Legislation

July 10, 2025/in News, Policy, Rural News Federal Funding

On July 4, President Trump signed into law a sweeping reconciliation package that includes several important tax and housing provisions—some that mark long-sought progress for affordable housing in rural communities, and others that fail to address persistent gaps in federal support.

“The most positive provisions of this broad and complex bill are the tax incentives that aid community development and housing, including several that recognize the unique housing market dynamics and capital needs of rural communities,” said David Lipsetz, President & CEO of the Housing Assistance Council (HAC). “Unfortunately, these are coupled with measures that will dramatically increase the cost of food and doctor visits for poor, small town families while giving tax cuts to wealthy people living in high income areas and corporations headquartered in far off cities. That hardly seems like a good deal for people living in rural and Tribal areas.”

The reconciliation act’s improvements to the rural housing and community development landscape include:

Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Improvements: The package makes permanent the 12 percent allocation increase for 9 percent LIHTC credits and lowers the private activity bond threshold from 50 percent to 25 percent. These are major wins for housing developers, helping to unlock more financing and expand project feasibility in high-cost or low-income regions, including in rural and Native communities.
Targeted Opportunity Zones (OZ) Reform: The bill revises the Opportunity Zones program by increasing basis percentages and reducing the substantial improvement test requirements to 50 percent. It also adds a marginal incentive to invest in small cities, exurban areas, and places with fewer than 50,000 people. Presumably this is to address the failure of the original OZ program to generate activity in rural communities.
Permanent Extension of New Market Tax Credit (NMTC): The bill makes the New Markets Tax Credit permanent, providing long-term certainty for lenders and investors in underserved rural areas. NMTCs have played an essential role in bringing grocery stores, health centers, and community facilities to areas where traditional financing does not reach.

The affordable housing and community development sector hoped several other broadly supported, bipartisan proposals would be adopted in the bill, but they were left out of the final version. These remaining gaps and challenges include:

No Rural Difficult Development Areas (DDAs) Provision: Although contained in the initial House-passed reconciliation bill, the final legislation failed to include a longstanding provision of the bipartisan Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act that would designate rural and Native communities as Difficult Development Areas for LIHTC purposes. This denied a 30 percent basis boost that would have helped projects in these communities overcome historically lower credit pricing and tighter capital margins. This omission is significant and jeopardizes growth in rural areas.
Neighborhood Homes Investment Act (NHIA) Excluded: The Neighborhood Homes Investment Act, which would have supported rehab and construction of owner-occupied homes in distressed rural neighborhoods, was not incorporated into the final reconciliation act. This omission is a particularly painful loss for communities with aging housing stock and no clear source of gap financing.
Misaligned OZ and LIHTC Standards: While the Opportunity Zones reforms for rural areas are a step forward, the continued disconnect between the OZ and LIHTC substantial improvement tests leaves many rural revitalization efforts out of reach.
Food and Healthcare Made More Scarce and Expensive: Provisions in the bill restrict eligibility for SNAP and Medicaid while reducing resources to veterans and decimating access to rural These cuts will hurt rural families who earn less than is needed to buy food and go to the doctor while still paying their mortgage or rent. Some of these cuts are set to phase in over the course of several years.

“We are grateful to the Members of Congress who championed the housing and community development tax incentives in this massive, fast-moving legislation,” said David Lipsetz. “Hopefully Congress finishes the job on a bipartisan basis later this session, leveling the playing field for all Americans by identifying rural areas as DDAs, adopting NHIA, and aligning OZs with LIHTC.”

Read a more detailed HAC analysis of the final reconciliation act.

Reconciliation Law Supports Some Tax Provisions for Affordable Housing, But Broadly Damages the Safety Net

July 10, 2025/in News, Policy, Rural News Federal Funding

The budget reconciliation bill, formerly known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, became law on July 4 with President Trump’s signature after a lengthy voting process in Congress. HAC’s review below focuses primarily on the bill’s positives for affordable housing and community development and offers some recommendations for improving them further in future legislation.

Major Non-Housing Provisions Will Impact Affordable Housing

Estimates indicate the law will have significant impacts on federal taxes, deficits, and spending. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office calculated that it will add $3.4 trillion to the federal debt over the next ten years. Analyses by the Penn Wharton Business Model, CNN, the Tax Policy Center, the Economic Policy Institute, and others show that the law will provide significant tax cuts for the highest income Americans, fewer benefits for middle-income households, and some negative impacts for those with the lowest incomes. Revisions to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act mean millions will lose health insurance. Changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will remove food support for millions.

The law increases funding for immigration enforcement. It reduces funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) but does not go as far as an earlier version of the bill passed by the House, which would have eliminated the CFPB entirely. It does not require that public lands be sold to create space for development of new housing, another provision that was in the House bill.

The law also repeals the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and rescinds unobligated funds remaining for the program. It cancels funding for a number of other energy-related programs created in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, including HUD’s Green and Resilient Retrofit Program, and cancels a number of energy-efficiency tax credits. Last-minute changes temporarily reduced, but did not eliminate, some of the law’s negative impacts on wind and solar projects. Taken as a whole, these provisions are likely to increase energy costs, with a disproportionately high impact on the lowest-income families because they pay the largest proportion of their incomes for energy.

Some of the law’s negative impacts will be especially significant for rural Americans. For example, while it increases funding for the Rural Health Transformation Program from $25 billion to $50 billion, that will not replace the $87 billion cut from rural hospital funding under the law’s other provisions. Rural communities already face unique health challenges including limited access to care, and closing hospitals can only add to their difficulties.

While HUD and USDA housing assistance programs are not directly affected by the law, the people they serve will feel its effects. States were authorized to use Medicaid for health-related needs, including housing (although the current administration may be rethinking that flexibility). When the proportion of income needed for food and medical care rises, the amount remaining for housing is reduced. People who need Medicaid and SNAP assistance may also qualify for housing aid, so any reduction in support will increase the number of low-income people juggling insufficient dollars to cover basic expenses.

Research has also found that high proportions of people experiencing homelessness rely on Medicaid, that use of Medicaid to provide supportive housing helps people leave homelessness, and that a large-scale loss of Medicaid in Tennessee led to a 24.5 percent increase in completed evictions. Homelessness in rural places has already been growing, with HUD data showing a 12 percent increase in total rural homelessness and a 36 percent increase in unsheltered rural family homelessness from 2023 to 2024.

Low Income Housing Tax Credit Permanently Expanded

The positive news for housing begins with an expansion of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, which incentivizes private investment in affordable rental housing. The reconciliation law increases the annual allocation for 9 percent tax credits by 12 percent. And it permanently reduces the financed-by test, which requires tax exempt private activity bonds to finance a certain portion of a project in order for that property to be fully eligible to generate 4 percent tax credits. The project proportion, formerly 50 percent, will now be 25 percent. Together, these provisions will expand the impact of the limited 9 percent credits and allow states to support more affordable housing developments within their maximum cap of Private Activity Bonds.

Unfortunately, the final law does not include a provision passed by the House that would have designated rural and Native American areas as Difficult Development Areas, providing projects there with a 30 percent basis boost from 2026 through 2029. HAC strongly supports adoption of this provision in future legislation.

Opportunity Zones are Permanent, With Mixed Results for Rural Places and Absence of Benefits that Target Affordable Housing

While the LIHTC program applies to financing for affordable housing developments, the Opportunity Zone (OZ) incentive is based on geography, offering support for both businesses and housing in underdeveloped census tracts. The OZ program has been successful in producing rental housing, but the units have not necessarily been affordable for low-income residents. OZs have also been used far more widely in urban and suburban areas than in rural places.

The law turns the program from a temporary investment incentive to a permanent one, with OZs to be redesignated every ten years. It establishes revised criteria for tracts to be eligible for designation. It takes steps to increase OZ financing in rural areas, including by providing investments in those tracts with a 30 percent step-up in basis after five years, but does not provide added incentives to support affordable housing. Unlike the Rural Opportunity Zone and Investment Act, a bill proposed in 2023, the reconciliation law does not incorporate persistent poverty measurements into the definition of rural OZs.

The program requires properties being rehabilitated with OZ investments to be “substantially improved.” That has been defined to require the improved value of the property to be 100 percent greater than its pre-rehab value. The reconciliation law drops the threshold to 50 percent. Notably, this is one of the few OZ provisions that is effective immediately.

Further improvements to the OZ program can be made through legislation in Congress next year. HAC recommends that such a bill should:

Add enhanced benefits for investments in rural affordable housing developments. While the new OZ legislation provides an enhanced benefit for all rural projects, further enhancements to basis, deferral, and timing benefits should be extended to projects that meet affordability levels similar to those required by the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program.
Require that one-third of the OZs designated in each new round be rural. The first version of the law passed by the House would have included this provision.
Reduce the amount of added value in a rehabilitated property that is needed to qualify for OZ investments. While the reduction from 100 percent substantial improvement to 50 percent is significant, the LIHTC program’s requirement is only 20 percent. Rural areas would be well served by making the LIHTC and OZ programs consistent on this point so they could be used together for affordable rental housing preservation. A lower threshold in rural places could also help attract investments there.
Adopt a more precise definition of rural OZs than the one provided in the bill. The law’s definition of rural areas includes places with populations up to 50,000, does not take population density into account, and relies partly on a definition of “urbanized area” that is no longer used by the U.S. Census Bureau. HAC recommends use of the rural definition adopted in the Duty to Serve regulations of the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA). FHFA’s rural definition is well suited to the OZ context for several reasons. Like the OZ program, FHFA’s definition is based on census tracts. It was crafted specifically to include rural residents living in outlying counties of metropolitan areas, to remain stable over time, and to be easy to implement and operationalize. Also, it has been adopted by other financing programs such as the Capital Magnet Fund administered by the Treasury Department’s CDFI Fund.
Create a State and Community Dynamism Fund to build the “last rural mile” of OZ delivery infrastructure. Recognizing the insufficient OZ activity in rural areas, states have leveraged federal programs, such as those from USDA and HUD, to attract and stimulate investments. These preexisting community development programs are already oversubscribed, however, and likely to be even more stressed if their funding is cut in fiscal year 2026 and beyond. To fill the gap, the bipartisan, bicameral Opportunity Zones Transparency, Extension, and Improvement Act proposes a new and specific $1 billion “Dynamism Fund” to promote OZ funds and projects in lower-income and rural communities. Funding would be distributed by formula to states to support technical and capacity-building assistance, outreach to investors, and other field building activities.
Make mission-driven intermediaries as well as state governments eligible for Dynamism Fund grants. The New Markets Tax Credit, which utilizes Community Development Entities (CDEs) to access the program, could provide a model. The Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund could certify community-based OZ investment intermediaries through a process similar to CDE/CDFI certification. These efforts would strengthen the ecosystem for rural Opportunity Zone investments, ensuring more effective deployment in areas that need it the most.
Allow for investments through CDFI and similar mission-driven intermediaries as qualified investments, and remove barriers that would allow those entities to aggregate multi-project investments. Allowing for the placement of investment in CDFIs and CDEs would open the door for mission-focused funds to be developed. These funds could meet the needs of rural projects while offsetting the limiting characteristics of rural projects: scattered, smaller projects, with desperate timelines.

New Markets Tax Credit Gets Permanent Extension

The bill makes the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) permanent, providing long-term certainty for lenders and investors in underserved rural areas. NMTCs have played an essential role in bringing grocery stores, health centers, and community facilities to areas that traditional financing does not reach.

Neighborhood Homes Investment Act is Not Included

The final law did not include provisions from the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act (NHIA), which would create a federal tax credit to build and rehabilitate affordable homes. NHIA was introduced earlier in 2025 in both the House and Senate. HAC supports its enactment as a stand-alone bill.

HAC CEO issues statement on cuts to housing programs and professionals

February 20, 2025/in Advocacy, Federal Funding Updates, News, Policy, Rural News Federal Funding, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

In response to reports of extensive cuts in federal programs and staff that serve rural and small town interests at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Housing Assistance Council CEO David Lipsetz made the following statement.

After this fall’s election, I observed that urban and rural voters had come closer together, as their shared frustration with the economy put a new Administration in the White House. It seemed this would lead to a rebalancing of public and private investment in housing—one where small towns finally get their fair shot at prosperity. One-quarter of all rural families—5.6 million rural households—are paying more than they can afford for housing. Rural communities are experiencing unprecedented levels of homelessness, with rents outpacing household income, and a housing market that puts the American Dream of homeownership out of reach for many young working families. I expressed hope that the outcome of the election would finally bring national attention to the severe housing crisis facing rural communities.

However, this glimmer of hope is now fading. The public frustration that I thought would drive positive changes to an imperfect system is instead fueling an indiscriminate effort to dismantle the very programs and professionals we need. Recent cuts at USDA and HUD are setting small towns back.

Millions of rural Americans can rent decent apartments and buy good homes in places that banks and builders do not serve because we the people believe everyone deserves a chance. Hundreds of thousands of rural families—many elderly and disabled—live in HUD’s publicly supported housing or rely on HUD and USDA rental programs to find a place they can call home. These public programs sustain rural communities as they cycle through tough times.

When the market doesn’t generate enough good housing in small towns, mortgages from USDA and rent vouchers from HUD fill the gap. Yet, these are not simple programs to run. For these programs to ensure that good housing is built and maintained, we need experienced professionals in the administration. Plans to terminate half of HUD’s workforce and dismiss employees at USDA threaten to severely disrupt these vital investments in rural housing. A bank would never tell its shareholders it plans to fire half its underwriters and still expects to make good quality loans.

We cannot afford this kind of disruption to programs that rural communities depend on. Congress has appropriated funding for these programs, rural families need them, and they cannot operate effectively without adequate, experienced staff to administer them.

HAC has been in small towns for 54 years and plans to be here for 54 more. We stand ready to work with the President and everyone else who wants to build up rural communities. We look forward to partnering with new leaders at HUD and USDA to make sure they have the resources to address rural America’s pressing housing challenges. But one thing is clear: the affordable housing crisis in rural America requires more capacity and attention, not less.

Post-Election Insights: A Hope for New Opportunity for Rural Housing

November 12, 2024/in News, Policy, Rural News Housing Affordability, Rural Policy

On November 5, a majority of American voters returned Donald Trump to the White House, along with a Republican majority in the Senate and—it now seems likely—the House of Representatives. Rural voters were a big part of his constituency. In fact, rural America gave President Trump more votes than urban America gave Vice President Harris.

The Housing Assistance Council is one of the only national housing organizations that focuses 100% of our work on small towns and rural places. All HAC loans, research reports, training programs and policy work are intended to help rural American communities address their affordable housing needs. So as you might guess, the election results prompted plenty of calls from friends in the housing industry asking versions of the same question, “Have rural and urban drifted further apart?” It may surprise you that my answer is an emphatic, “Nope, the gap just narrowed.”

Initial post-election analysis points to the economy as the decisive issue. Millions of suburban and urban Americans joined rural voters to send a message that the current economy is failing them. This is a familiar refrain for those of us who have spent years working in rural America. While the country is undoubtedly deeply divided on many fronts, perhaps this broader expression of economic pain provides an opportunity for progress toward an American future where working families in every geography have an opportunity not just to survive, but to get ahead.

Notably, because high housing costs are at the center of so many families’ economic struggles, for the first time in recent memory, housing took center stage throughout the campaign. This included an awareness that rural families earning rural wages can’t afford homes in their own hometowns. The day before the election I authored an op-ed in HousingWire that offered a set of bipartisan housing policy initiatives that would address the unique shape of the housing crisis in rural America.

With roots deep in rural communities, HAC has over 50 years’ experience providing elected officials data on rural conditions and nonpartisan analysis of public policies. We stand ready to share our expertise with the Trump Administration and 119^th Congress to ensure that rural communities fully benefit from efforts to address the current housing crunch. The White House and Congress have the tools to reverse our current course. Homeownership and rental markets can be turned to meet the needs of ordinary Americans. Indeed, our nation’s history includes numerous examples in which the federal government boldly responded to housing crises with game-changing legislation, uniformly enacted on a bipartisan basis, from the National Housing Acts of 1934 and 1949 to the creation of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit.

So with a broader voicing of economic discontent across rural, suburban and urban voters in this election, I expect the calls for changes to our economy and our housing markets will only grow louder. As we love to do at HAC, let me close with a couple of maps to illustrate the issue at hand. The map on the left is 1980. The one on the right is 2021. You can see the economy of the last forty years has left few places in which local wages allow local families to afford a place to live.

In fellowship,
David Lipsetz, President & CEO
Housing Assistance Council

HAC Comments on Duty To Serve Plan Modifications – December 2023

December 6, 2023/in Advocacy, Federal Register Comments, News, Policy Duty to Serve

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) put out a call for comments on the Enterprises’ (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s) proposed 2023 Duty to Serve Plan modifications. Both Enterprises proposed cutting a variety of their loan purchase goals in rural areas, citing market conditions as the justification. HAC pushed back on these proposed cuts in our comments. Specifically, HAC made in following points in our comment:

HAC is generally agnostic as to which section of Freddie Mac’s Duty to Serve plan USDA Section 515 purchases fall under, but strongly supports their continued inclusion and tangible results. We support mainlining the Section 515 purchases currently included in the rural section of the plan because they focus on rural-targeting of properties.
HAC opposes cuts to loan purchase goals in high-needs rural regions and from small, rural financial institutions.
HAC opposes cuts to loan purchase goals for manufactured housing communities.
HAC supports Fannie Mae’s new proposed objective to better serve the manufactured housing needs of Native communities.
HAC support permitting the Enterprises to make investments in CDFIs – a decision which relies on approval from the FHFA.

HAC DTS Plan Modification Comments 12.06.23 FINAL

HAC Comments on OMB Guidance on Grants and Agreements – December 2023

December 4, 2023/in Advocacy, Federal Register Comments, News, Policy Federal Funding, What is Rural

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) put out a call for comments on their guidance for Grants and Agreements, with a lens toward making grants processes more equitable. HAC submitted comments in support of more proactive geographic equity in the federal grants process. In addition to recognizing capacity building and access to capital as two essential equity issues in rural places, HAC’s comments focused on the recommendations below.

Instituting a Rural Impact Analysis for New Regulations
Investing in Capacity Building and Rural Intermediaries
Eliminating, Reducing or Modifying Cost-sharing and Matching Requirements that Disparately Impact Rural Communities
Streamlining and Increasing Uniformity in Applications
Including or Increasing Administrative and Predevelopment Costs as Eligible Activities in Rural Places
Recognizing the Rural Challenges in Metrics and Data Reporting

HAC Comments on OMB Guidance on Grants and Agreements 12.04.23

Housing Assistance Council Statement on Proposed $54.5 Million Set Aside for Homelessness in Rural Communities

June 30, 2022/in News, Policy Homeless, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Vulnerable Populations

The Housing Assistance Council (HAC) applauds the new funding package announced by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on June 22, 2022 to provide people experiencing homelessness in the nation’s cities and rural communities with the support they need. In total, HUD’s initiative includes $322 million targeted to addressing unsheltered and rural homelessness. Of this, $54.5 million is set aside for rural communities to help connect individuals and families experiencing homelessness to housing, healthcare and supportive services.

“This is a remarkable investment in terms of its size, targeting and design,” said HAC CEO David Lipsetz. “HUD recognizes that homelessness looks different in rural places than in large cities, and is customizing this initiative to address the unique capacity challenges that rural Continuums of Care face.” In particular, rural communities can apply for capacity-building support—which is not an eligible activity under the annual Continuum of Care competition or the unsheltered homelessness set aside. Funds can also support home repairs, outreach, supportive services and more. By specifically targeting rural communities that have historically not had access to HUD homeless assistance grants, this special funding announcement goes a long way toward ensuring an equitable approach for underserved communities.

HUD’s announcement reflects HAC’s longstanding efforts to educate policymakers on the unique needs of rural communities seeking to address homelessness. “HAC played an essential role informing the drafting and early implementation of the HEARTH Act of 2009, which overhauled HUD’s homeless assistance programs for the first time in two decades,” said Jonathan Harwitz, HAC’s Director of Public Policy, who worked on the HEARTH Act as a Congressional staffer and at HUD. “It is gratifying that HUD’s special funding announcement today reflects HAC’s feedback on HEARTH Act implementation over the past decade.”

Manufactured Housing in the United States Map, 2018

Housing Assistance Council Statement on Proposed $500 Million Investment in Manufactured Housing

June 27, 2022/in Policy Rural Policy

The Housing Assistance Council (HAC) applauds Chairman David Price (D-4^th-NC) and Ranking Member Mario Diaz-Balart (R-25^th-FL) of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Subcommittee for their bipartisan and transformational investment in the Manufactured Housing Improvement and Financing Program. The fiscal year (FY) 2023 budget bill passed this week by both the Subcommittee and the full Appropriations Committee includes $500 million to preserve and revitalize manufactured homes and manufactured housing communities, a long-underappreciated source of affordable housing for millions of Americans.

“The scale and scope of this bipartisan proposal, if enacted in the final FY 2023 HUD budget, would be a game-changer for families in need, HAC and our partners in this space.” – David Lipsetz, HAC CEO

This new program provides grants for a broad range of activities, from building affordable housing to building the capacity of local affordable housing organizations. The program will improve infrastructure, planning, resident and community services (including relocation assistance and eviction prevention), resiliency activities, and land and site acquisition. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) would distribute the funds competitively to non-profits, CDFIs, resident-owned manufactured housing communities, states, local governments, Tribes, and other eligible entities.

“Manufactured housing represents the nation’s largest supply of affordable housing. Until this program, the poor, largely-rural families living in these homes have been denied access to the public programs that preserve and maintain housing for those that need it most. Nor have the non-profit and public sector entities who work with manufactured housing received federal funding commensurate with the preservation and revitalization challenge they face for this vital affordable housing stock,” said HAC President & CEO David Lipsetz. “The scale and scope of this bipartisan proposal, if enacted in the final FY 2023 HUD budget, would be a game-changer for families in need, HAC and our partners in this space.”

HAC is the only national non-profit intermediary dedicated to affordable housing in rural America. With a mission-focus on the most rural and poorest places, HAC has long prioritized manufactured housing given its disproportionate share of the rural housing stock. Nationwide, approximately 6.7 million households live in manufactured or mobile homes, which is six (6) percent of the nation’s housing stock. Yet over 50 percent of all manufactured homes are located in rural areas. which comprises 14 percent of all occupied homes in rural communities – more than twice the national rate.

The proposed program from Chairman Price and Ranking Member Diaz-Balart builds on the Subcommittee’s May 26^th hearing “Manufactured Housing: Supporting America’s Largest Unsubsidized Affordable Housing Stock,” in which HAC’s Director of Research and Information Lance George testified on the challenges facing those seeking to maintain the quality of this essential affordable housing. His testimony established that many manufactured housing residents lease the land on which their homes sit, leaving them vulnerable to evictions and predatory lot rents. And about two-thirds of manufactured home loans are classified as high cost—five times the national average for all homes. His testimony concluded “manufactured housing is already a significant source of affordable housing in rural places, and it should continue to be a high-quality, affordable housing option.” HAC strongly believes the Manufactured Housing Improvement and Financing Program would be a major step toward achieving just that.

Updated Sept. 20: Senate Committee Votes to Keep Most Rural Housing Programs at FY19 Funding Levels

September 18, 2019/in Policy

UPDATE September 20, 2019 – When HAC first posted about the bill, its text was not yet available and the information on this page was based on a summary from the Democratic members of the House Appropriations Committee. On September 20 the bill text was posted online. There are no changes to the information originally provided.

UPDATE September 19, 2019 – The full Senate Appropriations Committee approved the subcommittee’s bill.

On September 17, 2019 the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee approved a fiscal year 2020 spending bill that holds most USDA rural housing programs at 2019 levels, with increases for Section 521 Rental Assistance and Section 542 rural housing vouchers. This is far above the Administration’s budget proposal, but the bill approved by the House in June would increase funding for several other rural housing programs as well. If the full Senate approves the subcommittee’s bill, the differences between the House and Senate will have to be resolved by a conference committee.

USDA Rural Development Appropriations[tdborder][/tdborder]

USDA Rural Dev. Prog. (dollars in millions)	FY18 Approp.	FY19 Final Approp.	FY20 Admin. Budget	FY20 House Bill (H.R. 3055)	FY20 Senate Bill (S. 2522)
502 Single Fam. Direct Self-Help setaside*	$1,100 5	$1,000 5	0 0	$1,000 0	$1,000 5
502 Single Family Guar.	24,000	24,000	24,000	24,000	24,000
504 VLI Repair Loans	28	28	0	28	28
504 VLI Repair Grants	30	30	0	30	30
515 Rental Hsg. Direct Lns.	40	40	0	45	40
514 Farm Labor Hsg. Lns.	23	27.5	0	30	27.5
516 Farm Labor Hsg. Grts.	8.4	10	0	10	10
521 Rental Assistance	1,345	1,331.4	1,375	1,375	1,375
523 Self-Help TA	30	30	0	32	30
533 Hsg. Prsrv. Grants	10	15	0	15	15
538 Rental Hsg. Guar.	230	230	250	250	230
Rental Prsrv. Demo. (MPR)	22	24.5	0	40	24.5
542 Rural Hsg. Vouchers	25	27	35	35	32
Rural Cmnty. Dev’t Init.	4	6	0	8	6
Rental Prsrv. TA	1	1	0	0	1

* For the self-help setaside in Section 502 direct, the figures in the table represent budget authority, not program levels.

HAC News: September 11, 2013

September 11, 2013/in HAC News

HAC News Formats. pdf

September 11, 2013
Vol. 42, No. 18

• Continuing Resolution anticipated for federal funding • USDA temporarily speeds processing of applications for Section 502 direct loans • New housing counseling certification requirements proposed • RCDI NOFA contact information corrected • HUD changes HECM, requests comments on financial assessments • Comments sought on increasing fees for HUD Section 184 guaranteed loans • Poor housing quality tied to children’s problems • African-American housing and wealth studied • HAC launches expanded, updated Rural Data Portal and schedules webinar • 10,000 Friends of Rural America seeks to improve attention and respect

September 11, 2013
Vol. 42, No. 18

CONTINUING RESOLUTION ANTICIPATED FOR FEDERAL FUNDING. Congress is back in session this week and is expected to pass a short-term Continuing Resolution to begin FY14 on October 1. USDA rural housing and HUD programs will be continued at 2013 spending levels for the term of the CR, and could be further extended for the balance of 2014. This CR, like previous CRs in 2013, is likely to extend USDA’s current rural definition for all com-munities currently eligible for RD housing programs.

USDA TEMPORARILY SPEEDS PROCESSING OF APPLICATIONS FOR SECTION 502 DIRECT LOANS. To help obligate funds by the end of FY13 on September 30, a letter informs RD State Directors that loans may be approved and obligated subject to receipt of appraisals. Also, 502 direct loans for purchasers of homes with existing 502 direct loans will be treated as initial loans that will pay off the existing loans. Contact an RD office.

NEW HOUSING COUNSELING CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS PROPOSED. Implementing provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, HUD suggests changes including creation of a system to certify individual counselors as well as counseling agencies. The proposal will be in the September 13 Federal Register and at https://www.regulations.gov, with comments due in 60 days. Contact Ruth Román, HUD, 202-708-0317.

RCDI NOFA CONTACT INFORMATION CORRECTED. RD’s August 14 funding notice for the Rural Community Development Initiative included errors in the addresses and phone numbers for RD state offices. A Federal Register notice to be published September 13 will make corrections. The deadline remains November 12.

HUD CHANGES HECM, REQUESTS COMMENTS ON FINANCIAL ASSESSMENTS. On September 3, 2013, Mortgagee Letter 2013-27 announced changes to the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program. HUD seeks comments by October 5, 2013 on requirements for financial assessments, which evaluate borrowers’ ability to comply with mortgage requirements. Other new requirements will take effect September 30, 2013. Contact Karin Hill, HUD, 202-708-4308.

COMMENTS SOUGHT ON INCREASING FEES FOR HUD SECTION 184 GUARANTEED LOANS. HUD has written to tribal leaders requesting their feedback on increasing borrower fees to 1.5% of the loan amount from the current 1%. The higher amount would supplement congressional appropriations which, the letter says, will not be sufficient to meet program demand. Contact HUD staff, Section184Consultation@hud.gov.

POOR HOUSING QUALITY TIED TO CHILDREN’S PROBLEMS. A research brief published by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation reports on a six-year study that examined how five housing characteristics – quality, stability, affordability, ownership, and receiving a subsidy – impacted education, emotional problems, and behavioral problems. Poor housing quality was the most consistent and strongest predictor of emotional and behav-ioral problems, and was also related to school performance for adolescents. “Cumulative residential instability” was also highly relevant. “Poor Housing Quality is Tied to Children’s Emotional and Behavioral Problems” concludes that housing assistance programs are important and suggests stronger local housing codes and enforcement could help as well.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN HOUSING AND WEALTH STUDIED. The State of Housing in Black America 2013, published by the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, reports that black homeownership rates began to decline before the recession began in 2007, and the recession resulted in significant loss of wealth. Recommendations include redesigning the housing finance system with a focus on borrowers, ensuring adequate credit for rental housing development, and establishing a housing and community infrastructure bank.

HAC LAUNCHES EXPANDED, UPDATED RURAL DATA PORTAL AND SCHEDULES WEBINAR. The portal, online at www.ruraldataportal.org, is an easy-to-use resource with over 350 data indicators providing essential information on the social, economic, and housing characteristics of communities in the U.S. – including not only rural places, but the nation, states, and suburban and urban areas also. Most of the information comes from HAC tabulations of the 2010 Census, the American Community Survey, and Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data. Join HAC for a webinar overview on Wednesday, September 18.

10,000 FRIENDS OF RURAL AMERICA SEEKS TO IMPROVE ATTENTION AND RESPECT. The movement, sponsored by a coalition of 25 rural nonprofits and supporters, including HAC, is designed to mobilize individuals and organizations willing to speak up for the real Rural America. To learn more and join, visit 10000friends .ruralamerica.org/stand_up/.