News Archives

USDA Wants to Reorganize Rural Housing, Business, and Utilities Functions

May 11, 2017/in Announcements

USDA has proposed to “realign” its Rural Development mission area so the Rural Housing Service, Rural Business-Cooperative Service, and Rural Utilities Service administrators report directly to the Secretary of Agriculture.

This suggestion is offered in a report to Congress released on May 11, 2017. As the document’s title – Report on the Proposed 2017 Reorganization of the Department of Agriculture to Establish an Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs – indicates, it focuses on changing USDA’s trade functions; it also emphasizes changes related to farm production. In a brief paragraph, the report says USDA:

intends to realign the Rural Development agencies to report directly to the Secretary. . . . This reorganization recognizes and promotes the importance of rural development by placing it under the direct oversight of the Secretary. Placing rural development under the direct supervision of the Secretary will ensure the Secretary is also able to leverage USDA’s expertise with rural communities and new Administrative initiatives to focus on infrastructure investments in rural America.

The idea raises numerous questions that have not yet been answered. Will this change lower RD’s profile in the department because it will not have a representative at the Under Secretary level? What priority will RD receive among all the other things the Secretary’s staff must address? Will it become easier to cut RD or its programs if they can be viewed as projects in the Secretary’s office and therefore optional? How does this fit with the Administration’s budget proposals to reduce RD funding?

A budget table in the report shows Rural Development under a Deputy Secretary. The department currently has one Deputy Secretary, and presumably the budget refers to the current position, not a new one. The relationship between RD and the Deputy is not reflected in the revised organizational chart, however. It shows RD connected directly to the Secretary of Agriculture, while all the Under Secretaries connect to the Deputy Secretary, and administrative offices connect to both the Deputy Secretary and the Secretary.

The budget table seems to indicate the amount of resources – staff years and funding – allocated to RD would not change under the new organizational scheme. It shows 4,487 staff years and $3,078 million for RD in the current setup, and 4,847 staff years and $3,078 million under the new arrangement. Since the funding level does not change, the switch from 4,487 to 4,847 staff years appears to be a typo.

The proposal’s focus is on creation of a new Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs (TFAA) and a new Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation (FPC). A report in Politico Pro (subscription required) points out that by law USDA is limited to seven Under Secretaries. The reorganization would eliminate the current Under Secretary of Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services (FFAS), reassigning the FFAS agencies to the two new positions. But it must eliminate another Under Secretary to remain at the limit of seven.

The 2014 Farm Bill required creation of the new TFAA Under Secretary. The RD Under Secretary position was also required by a statute – although the 1994 law that reorganized USDA says “the Secretary is authorized to establish” such an Under Secretary and “If the Secretary establishes the position . . . ,” language that could be read as discretionary rather than mandatory.

Responses and Recommendations for the New Rural Task Force

April 28, 2017/in Blog Posts

Excerpted from The National Rural Assembly’s blog.

The following are responses and recommendations from members of the National Rural Assembly community about the Trump administration’s recent Executive Order forming a new Rural Task Force. These comments represent the diversity of rural people and places, across ages, sectors, geographies and issue areas.

“…I encourage Secretary Perdue and members of the task force to address a wide variety of rural economic and community topics as well as agriculture. Housing, health care, broadband, economic development, and many other concerns are different in rural America than in cities. I also strongly recommend that the task force actively seek direct input from all rural Americans.” – Moises Loza, Executive Director, Housing Assistance Council

Read the complete post at: https://ruralassembly.org/blog/new-rural-task-force.

Moises Loza to receive Farmworker Justice Award

April 24, 2017/in HAC in the News

HAC’s Executive Director, Moises Loza, will receive the Shelley Davis Memorial Award at the Farmworker Justice Annual Award Reception on May 4, 2017.

Farmworker Justice hosts its annual award reception to honor individuals who have made important contributions in securing justice for our nation’s farmworkers. Moises will accept the award alongside Kerry Kennedy, who will receive the Farmworker Justice Award.

For more information, visit the Farmworker Justice website.

It’s time to reauthorize Native American housing

April 21, 2017/in Blog Posts

Moises Loza, HAC’s Executive Director, wrote and op-ed for The Hill about the reauthorization of Native American housing programs.

Broken windows, frequent reports of black mold and bed bugs, discarded tires as makeshift roofing, and more than a dozen people crammed together in a crumbling two-bedroom home.

Such housing conditions in Indian country were uncovered last year by the Great Falls Tribune, which noted a housing shortage that “has lingered on U.S. Indian reservations for nearly a century.” As the Executive Director of an organization that has worked to address such issues since 1971, occasional reports of horrific conditions in Indian country are, sadly, not surprising. Such reports are frustrating because we know what works: sustained funding of federal housing programs that meet the unique needs of sovereign Indian nations…

Read the entire piece on The Hill’s website

Trailer in low income section of pine ridge village

Rural Placemaking Participants Selected

April 7, 2017/in Announcements

The Housing Assistance Council (HAC) and bcWORKSHOP [bc] are pleased to announce the selection of two organizations for the Rural Placemaking Program, supported by a Knowledge Building Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The smART Kinston City Project Foundation in Kinston, North Carolina and Woodlands Development Group in Elkins, West Virginia will be implementing rural creative placemaking initiatives during summer 2017 as a part of this program.

Over the next six months, smART Kinston and Woodlands Development Group will work in partnership with residents and artists to develop a creative, arts-based initiative in their communities. With the support of [bc] and HAC, both organizations will kickoff their creative placemaking pilot projects in June.

The project is funded in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). To find out more about how the National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities visit www.arts.gov.

For more information on the recipient groups and creative placemaking, visit https://www.bcworkshop.org.

Rural Placemaking Funding Available

March 7, 2017/in Announcements

HAC, in collaboration with bcWORKSHOP, is excited to announce a call for participants for Rural Placemaking, a new creative placemaking initiative that will take place in two rural communities (with populations less than 50,000) in the United States. Creative placemaking is a way of working between community developers, housing organizations, artists and local stakeholders to strengthen communities.

Apply Online

Two partnerships between a housing or community development organization and an artist/art organization will be selected to implement a temporary initiative from May to August 2017. Applications are due Friday, March 10, 2017.

Moises Loza Announces His Retirement from HAC

February 24, 2017/in Announcements

It has been my honor and privilege to guide the Housing Assistance Council’s efforts to improve the lives of low-income rural Americans. After almost three decades as HAC’s Executive Director, I am now retiring.

HAC has overcome many challenges over its 45-year history, and will face more challenges in the future. This is a good time for fresh leadership with new approaches. HAC will face the future as the strong organization it has always been, with a board and staff devoted to its mission.

Change can be difficult, but it is often a positive force. I am confident that this change is the right thing for HAC, as well as for me and my family. I am also confident that HAC’s board of directors will choose a new executive director wisely. I will remain at HAC until my successor is selected, and I am committed to making the transition a smooth one.

I wish to express sincere thanks for years of hard work and support to HAC’s board, staff, funders, and especially the organizations working on the ground in rural America. HAC’s partners in the field are the ones who truly build rural communities.

-Moises Loza

Read the statement from HAC’s Board Chairman Andrew Bias on Moises’ retirement

Statement from the HAC Board of Directors on the Retirement of Moises Loza

February 24, 2017/in Announcements

I write with both sadness and optimism to announce that Moises Loza has decided to retire as Executive Director of the Housing Assistance Council. Moises worked at HAC from 1973 to 1978, and from 1981 to the present. Since becoming HAC’s Executive Director in March 1989, Moises has served as one of the nation’s strongest voices on behalf of affordable housing in rural America. His skilled leadership has enabled HAC to better the lives of many thousands of rural residents. As he departs for his well-earned retirement, he leaves the organization strong and ready for the future.

HAC’s board of directors has established a search committee. More information on the search for a successor will be distributed in the coming weeks. Moises has committed to remain at HAC during this process and to ensure a smooth transition.

On behalf of the entire board, I thank Moises for his dedication, strength, intelligence, and hard work throughout his tenure at HAC. He will be greatly missed.

Andrew Bias
Board Chairman, Housing Assistance Council

Housing as Infrastructure

February 9, 2017/in Blog Posts

by Stephen Sugg,Housing Assistance Council (HAC)

We know that decent and affordable housing does great (and cost-effective) things like prevent lead poisoning, improve health outcomes, and boost student achievement in school. Rural affordable housing is an economic driver. And a lack of rural affordable housing is thwarting economic growth and job creation. Thus, HAC and our rural partners in 50 states are among the growing number of voices viewing housing as infrastructure. One rural small business developer said it best, calling intertwined issues of workforce recruitment and housing stock availability the “two biggest challenges that rural areas tend to be worried about”.

Those working in the metro DC area and other relatively affluent enclaves are accustomed to construction cranes hovering, young professionals sipping lattes that are the price of a burger and fries in a rural diner, and paying outrageous rents.

It is different in rural America. Available housing is often dilapidated, not energy-efficient, and though comparatively cheap, still unaffordable for the working poor, or most vulnerable. Grandma might have a $800 heating bill for her Jimmy Carter era manufactured home. Rural incomes are 25% less on average than non-rural, and this statistic is worse for rural areas mired in persistent poverty. But bottom line focused rural leaders know that affordable housing creates jobs—short and long term, while offering “immediate fiscal benefits” for states and localities.

Rural businesses too often struggle, with lumber catching dust at the lumber yard; building supplies hardly moving at the hardware store. Immediate economic impact would come from investment that is guaranteed to stay local, help local people, and that is “shovel ready” (and then some). It might even help stem the onslaught of rural hospital closures.

I’d challenge folks from the Trump Administration, starting with HUD Secretary Ben Carson, to join a bipartisan group of Congressional leaders and my colleagues and me on a journey—perhaps over the next Congressional recess. Start in Appalachia, say rural eastern Kentucky, and ask the folks there if federal infrastructure investment in housing would be wise. Imagine out-of-work miners constructing “self-help” homes, their sweat equity again paying a dividend, along with de facto job training.

Then go north, to Pine Ridge in South Dakota, where 18 people crowding into a house is still too common, a place that Nicholas Kristof called “Poverty’s Poster Child”. Ask them about the immediate impact of improved housing conditions.

Traditional log home - between Oglala and Pine Ridge village Traditional log home – between Oglala and Pine Ridge village

Next fly south, to the Colonias on the U.S.-Mexico border, where housing is in short supply, and modern sewage systems are too rare. In the Colonias, even modest investment does much good, as creative nonprofits are doing cutting-edge work. Going westward (or any direction, really), one could visit the homes of farmworkers, and see the substandard housing conditions of those responsible for making sure that we eat.

For those wanting some recreation with their fact finding mission, they would need not go to counties mired in persistent poverty—85% of which are rural. Rural resort towns (e.g., “tourist areas”) are filled with housing need. Those in the service industry are often part of rural America’s hidden homelessness epidemic. And make no mistake: investment in affordable rural housing plays a critical role in addressing rural America’s opioid crisis. Citylab called the opioid epidemic an “infrastructure issue”, citing the need for rural transitional housing.

In rural America, where costs are lower for construction and land, infrastructure spending targeted toward housing—preservation or new—can boost the outlook for Main Street while providing an anchor for our most vulnerable families to achieve stability, and a shot at the middle class.

Last year, over 7 million households in rural America experienced at least one major housing problem. We can do better, and political will is all that it takes.

This post is part of a series from members of the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding tying housing to infrastructure. Read the first post in the series from the National Housing Conference.

Housing is infrastructure

January 31, 2017/in Announcements

by Kaitlyn Snyder & Rebekah King, National Housing Conference

Housing provides infrastructure our neighborhoods and cities need to thrive; it provides a home to the workers who are keeping local businesses running. Having affordable housing near jobs helps connect people to economic activity, just in a slightly different way than roads, bridges and airports do. At the National Housing Conference, we’re concerned that our country’s affordable housing infrastructure is not meeting our nation’s needs, and we hope to see affordable housing included in any major infrastructure legislation.

Read the complete blog post on NHC’s Open House Blog

This post is part of a series from members of the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding tying housing to infrastructure.