The Housing Assistance Council is an independent, non-partisan and regularly responds to Congressional committees, Member offices, federal agencies, and policy advocacy coalitions with the research and information needed to make informed policy decisions. Our research work, Rural Data Portal, and Veterans Data Central all provide valuable, educational context to frame the rural policy conversation. If you want to know how a new program or policy could impact America’s small towns and rural places, please don’t hesitate to contact us at policy@ruralhome.org.
USDA released the 2017 Rural Development Multi-Family Housing (MFH) Annual Occupancy Report. The report includes both Rural Rental Housing (RRH) Section 515 and Farm Labor Housing (FLH) Section 514 properties. These results are based on September 2017 data from the Multi-Family Information System database.
This report presents data from the past three years, comparing information from years 2015 to 2017.
On April 19, 2018, USDA announced the appointment of Joel Baxley as Rural Housing Service Administrator.
The announcement says “Joel Baxley comes to USDA with 23 years of real estate finance experience, including 13 years providing valuations of complex property types. He most recently served as the Consulting Services Director and the senior real estate technical consultant with RSM US LLP’s Financial Advisory Services consulting practice. Joel holds an undergraduate degree and MBA from the University of Alabama and a post-graduate degree from the University of Oxford.”
Baxley was one of the authors of the 2016 Comprehensive Property Assessment of USDA’s multifamily housing portfolio.
On April 13, 2018 HAC submitted written testimony to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture making recommendations about fiscal year 2019 appropriations for USDA’s rural housing programs.
On March 24, 2018 HAC submitted comments to USDA on proposed changes to its civil rights functions. HAC’s comments encourage USDA to stay focused on protecting the civil rights of its customers and staff, and providing information about how the proposed changes were identified as necessary.
HAC’s comments are available here (PDF).
Congressional negotiatiors agreed March 21, 2018 on an omnibus appropriations package for FY18, the fiscal year that began October 1, 2017. The bill is expected to pass both the House and Senate, and to be signed into law by President Trump, before midnight on March 23. The bill maintains or increases funding levels for both USDA and HUD housing programs. In fact, because the cap on FY18 spending levels was raised, funding levels for several programs were increased above the amounts in both the House and Senate FY18 bills. These include Section 502 direct homeownership loans, Section 515 direct rental loans, Section 542 vouchers, and others at USDA. At HUD, there are increases for HOME, CDBG, Section 202, Section 811, the Public Housing Capital Fund, tenant-based and project-based vouchers, and others.
The final bill does not include the Rural Economic Infrastructure Grants proposed in the Administration’s FY18 budget.
Congress has recently taken the first steps towards FY19 funding decisions, beginning to hold hearings on the Administration’s budget requests. HAC will continue to report on this process as it moves forward.
[tdborder][/tdborder]
|
USDA Rural Dev. Prog. |
|||||
|
502 Single Fam. Direct |
$900 |
$1,000 |
$900 |
$1,000 |
$1,100 |
|
502 Single Family Guar. |
24,000 |
24,000 |
24,000 |
24,000 |
24,000 |
|
504 VLI Repair Loans |
26.3 |
26.3 |
24 |
26.3 |
28 |
|
504 VLI Repair Grants |
28.7 |
28.7 |
a |
28.7 |
30 |
|
515 Rental Hsg. Direct Lns. |
28.4 |
35 |
28.4 |
35 |
40 |
|
514 Farm Labor Hsg. Lns. |
23.9 |
23.9 |
15 |
23.8 |
23 |
|
516 Farm Labor Hsg. Grts. |
8.3 |
8.3 |
6 |
8.3 |
8.4 |
|
521 Rental Assistance |
1,390 |
1,405 |
1,345 |
1,345 |
1,345 |
|
523 Self-Help TA |
27.5 |
30 |
25 |
30 |
30 |
|
533 Hsg. Prsrv. Grants |
3.5 |
5 |
a |
5 |
10 |
|
538 Rental Hsg. Guar. |
150 |
230 |
230 |
230 |
230 |
|
Rental Prsrv. Demo. (MPR) |
22 |
22 |
15 |
22 |
22 |
|
542 Rural Hsg. Vouchers |
15 |
19.4 |
20 |
19.4 |
25 |
|
Rural Cmnty. Dev’t Init. |
4 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
a. Section 504 grants and Section 533 grants would have been rolled into a new Rural Economic Infrastructure Grant program. This change is not included in the final bill.
| HUD Program (dollars in millions) |
FY18 House Bill (H.R. 3353) |
||||
|
CDBG |
$3,000 |
$3,000 |
$2,900 |
3,000 |
3,300 |
|
HOME |
950 |
950 |
850 |
950 |
1,362 |
|
Self-Help Homeownshp. (SHOP) |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
|
Veterans Home Rehab |
5.7 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
|
Tenant-Based RA |
19,628 |
20,292 |
20,487 |
21,365 |
22,015 |
|
Project-Based Rental Asstnce. |
10,622 |
10,816 |
11,082 |
11,507 |
11,515 |
|
Public Hsg. Capital Fund |
1,900 |
1,942 |
1,850 |
1,945 |
2,750 |
|
Public Hsg. Operating Fund |
4,500 |
4,400 |
4,400 |
4,500 |
4,550 |
|
Choice Neighbrhd. Initiative |
125 |
137.5 |
20 |
50 |
150 |
|
Native Amer. Hsg. Block Grant |
650 |
654 |
654 |
655 |
655 |
|
Homeless Assistance Grants |
2,250 |
2,383 |
2,383 |
2,456 |
2,513 |
|
Hsg. Opps. for Persons w/ AIDS |
335 |
356 |
356 |
330 |
375 |
|
202 Hsg. for Elderly |
432.7 |
502.4 |
573 |
573 |
678 |
|
811 Hsg. for Disabled |
150.6 |
146.2 |
147 |
147 |
230 |
|
Fair Housing |
65.3 |
65.3 |
65.3 |
65.3 |
65 |
|
Healthy Homes & Lead Haz. Cntl. |
110 |
145 |
130 |
160 |
230 |
|
Housing Counseling |
47 |
55 |
50 |
47 |
55 |
Guarantees for bank loans would remain at current levels and basic rent aid for tenants would continue, but other rural housing assistance would be wiped out under the Trump Administration’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2019 released on February 12, 2018. Although tenants would continue receiving assistance, they would face a new requirement to pay at least $50 per month in rent unless they are deemed to experience economic hardship.
This budget is much the same as last year’s proposal for rural housing. Last year the Section 504 grant program – which offers small grants to elderly homeowners with very low incomes to repair health and safety hazards in their homes – would have been rolled into a new pool of money called the Rural Economic Infrastructure Grant program. This year’s budget does not include that infrastructure grant proposal, and would simply eliminate Section 504 grants. The House incorporated the infrastructure grant idea into its FY18 appropriations bill, but both the House and the Senate rejected most of the program eliminations proposed by the Administration last year.
The guarantee programs that would remain – Section 502 guarantees for homebuyers and Section 538 guarantees for builders of rental housing in rural places – cover their own costs through fees, so the government pays only the costs of administering them.
USDA’s Section 521 Rental Assistance and Section 542 voucher programs, which assist tenants in two different sets of circumstances, would be funded at levels similar to current amounts. The $20 million proposed for vouchers, however, is too low to help all eligible tenants who want vouchers. HAC believes at least $27 million will be needed for these renters whose landlords pay off their USDA mortgages, either early or at maturity.
In addition to the new $50 rent requirement, the budget proposes to allow USDA to recapture Rental Assistance funds from past years’ agreements if the department determines a property no longer needs RA, and to use those funds for other properties. It would also let USDA transfer unneeded RA or voucher funds to any other rural housing programs. [tdborder][/tdborder]
|
USDA Rural Dev. Prog. |
|||||
|
502 Single Fam. Direct |
$900 |
$1,000 |
$900 |
$1,000 |
0 |
|
502 Single Family Guar. |
24,000 |
24,000 |
24,000 |
24,000 |
24,000 |
|
504 VLI Repair Loans |
26.3 |
26.3 |
24 |
26.3 |
0 |
|
504 VLI Repair Grants |
28.7 |
28.7 |
c |
28.7 |
0 |
|
515 Rental Hsg. Direct Lns. |
28.4 |
35 |
28.4 |
35 |
0 |
|
514 Farm Labor Hsg. Lns. |
23.9 |
23.9 |
15 |
23.8 |
0 |
|
516 Farm Labor Hsg. Grts. |
8.3 |
8.3 |
6 |
8.3 |
0 |
|
521 Rental Assistance |
1,390 |
1,405b |
1,345 |
1,345 |
1,331.4b |
|
523 Self-Help TA |
27.5 |
30 |
25 |
30 |
0 |
|
533 Hsg. Prsrv. Grants |
3.5 |
5 |
a |
5 |
0 |
|
538 Rental Hsg. Guar. |
150 |
230 |
230 |
230 |
250 |
|
Rental Prsrv. Demo. (MPR) |
22 |
22 |
15 |
22 |
0 |
|
542 Rural Hsg. Vouchers |
15 |
19.4 |
20 |
19.4 |
20 |
|
Rural Cmnty. Dev’t Init. |
4 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
a. FY18 appropriation is not yet final.
b. Includes $40 million in advance funding for FY18, so total available in FY17 was $1.365 billion and total available in FY18 would be $1.385 billion. The FY19 budget assumes that this “forward funding” continues, so more than $1.331 billion would be available in FY19.
c. Section 504 loans and other non-housing loans would have been rolled into a new Rural Economic Infrastructure Grant program.
Gil Gonzalez, who served in USDA Rural Development from 2001 to 2005, has been named Chief of Staff for RD. Anne Hazlett, who heads the agency, announced his appointment on January 18, 2018.
President Trump addressed rural issues on January 8, 2018 at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s convention, and signed two documents related to improving rural broadband connections. A Presidential Memorandum instructs the Department of Interior to allow rural broadband installation on federal property. An Executive Order requires agencies to use standardized forms and contracts in order to streamline the process for these installations on federal property.
At the event, USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue also presented the President with a report from the Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity, which he chaired.
The report groups its comments and recommendations into five sections: e-connectivity, quality of life, rural workforce, technological innovation, and rural economy. Affordable housing is included in the quality of life category along with education, healthcare, transportation, utilities, other infrastructure, and community resiliency planning.
Improving access to technology, reducing duplicative programs and regulatory burdens, and attracting private capital are among the recurring themes in the report.
The report describes housing issues this way:
In some places, housing affordability has become a major challenge, either because housing costs have risen rapidly or because incomes are insufficient for self-supported housing at market rates. These burdens are increasing among rural renters, in both high-amenity areas and in communities with high poverty rates. In such parts of rural America, addressing the shortage of local jobs and a lack of connection to those job opportunities will be a major factor in overcoming these challenges.
Under “objectives and recommended actions,” the housing section proposes:
Innovate Options for Rural Housing – Develop a set of shared best practices for increasing homeownership, reducing homelessness in rural communities, and building robust community infrastructure. Such practices should include recommendations for federal, state, tribal and local action to strengthen investments in rural housing and provide technical assistance. The Task Force recommends options such as the Department of Housing & Urban Development, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Agriculture, Department of Labor, and Department of Education jointly evaluating federal rural housing policies and programs, and targeting existing resources to best support sustainable housing in rural communities. To optimize rural housing options for the workforce needed in the current and future economies, private sector organizations’ resource deployment to rural areas can also be incentivized.
The report’s section on the rural workforce notes that “farmers often have difficulty finding American citizen and lawful permanent resident workers to fill” production agriculture jobs.
As labor instability grows, seasonal farmers are increasingly turning to [the] H-2A visa program to ensure that their foreign-born workers are working legally in the United States. The inefficiencies and administrative burden of the H-2A program are well-communicated by farmers. The White House is addressing farmers’ concerns through an interagency effort to implement policy and regulatory changes to improve the … H-2A program. The goal of this initiative is to ensure that farmers have access to the lawful workforce that is needed.
The task force proposes a three-part structure to continue its work and implement actions:
Local Assessments of Fair Housing will not be required until 2020 at the earliest, HUD announced on January 5, 2018. The delay relates to part of a 2015 HUD regulation, which changed the requirement for plans developed by local governments and public housing authorities that receive funding under some of HUD’s programs, including the CDBG and HOME programs, important resources for affordable rural housing. Each funded entity would develop an Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH), a more data-driven and standardized replacement for the previous Analysis of Impediments (AI). The AFH requirement was to be phased in over time, with small entities having the most time to comply.
The new announcement says that 35 percent of the first 49 AFH plans HUD evaluated did not meet the requirements. It explains that program participants need additional technical assistance in developing their AFHs. It delays the phase-in period, so plans will not be due until after October 31,2020.
HUD’s notice reminds funding recipients that in the meantime, they are still required by law to affirmatively further fair housing. They will be required to continue developing and updating the older Analyses of Impediments until the AFH requirement takes effect.
While the notice is effective immediately, HUD invites public comment by March 6, 2018.
Updated: December 18, 2017
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has published Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s Underserved Markets Plans for 2018-2020 under the Duty to Serve program. The Plans become effective January 1, 2018.
Fannie Mae’s Underserved Markets Plan
Freddie Mac’s Underserved Markets Plan
The Housing Assistance Council (HAC) appreciates the opportunity to comment on Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s Duty to Serve Underserved Markets Plans for Rural Markets. As a strong advocate for the Duty to Serve provisions of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, HAC appreciates the time, effort, and resources FHFA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac have undertaken to develop these underserved market plans. The core of HAC’s work for over four decades has been rural and underserved communities. HAC understands the complexities and difficulties of working in these communities. HAC also understands the promise and possibility of Duty to Serve to affect real and measurable change in these long overlooked and largely forgotten communities and people. We appreciate that FHFA and the Enterprises have not forgotten them, and we look forward to assisting you and the Duty to Serve effort generally to achieve its mandate to improve liquidity and access to affordable housing in underserved markets.
Given its organizational focus on rural housing, HAC focused largely on the Rural Markets component of the plans. HAC presents comments on each Enterprise’s plan separately. After the Enterprise-specific comments, HAC presents general comments and suggestions to the Enterprises and FHFA on issues of rural multifamily housing and preservation.
Fannie Mae Rural Purchase Activity, 2013-2015
Freddie Mac Rural Purchase Activity, 2013-2015
The Federal Housing Finance Agency issued a final rule to implement the Duty to Serve provisions which require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to serve three specified underserved markets – manufactured housing, affordable housing preservation and rural housing – by improving the distribution and availability of mortgage financing in a safe and sound manner for residential properties that serve very low-, low- and moderate-income families.
Visit FHFA.gov/DTS for the press release, final rule, fact sheet, public listening session details, timeline and more.
HAC Will provide a summary of the Duty to Serve Rule soon.
FHFA will provide a high-level overview of the final rule and answer stakeholder questions via webinar on Monday, Dec. 19 at 2 p.m. ET.
You may submit questions in advance by emailing DutyToServeStakeholders@FHFA.gov with “webinar question” in the subject line. Please submit your questions by COB Thursday, Dec. 15.
The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 mandates that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have a ‘Duty to Serve’ three traditionally underserved markets of:
The GSEs are tasked with increasing liquidity and investment capital in these markets.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) issued a Proposed Rule on Duty to Serve on December 15, 2015. Comments to the Rule were due on March 17, 2016.
Link to Proposed Rule sent to Federal Register
HAC Comments on Proposed Duty to Serve Rule – March, 17 2016
HAC Comments on Proposed Duty to Serve Rule – July 22, 2010
HAC Comments on Duty to Serve Advanced Notice of Rule Making – September 18, 2009
The Housing Assistance Council (HAC) convened an interactive e-learning experience to assist housing providers and policymakers better understand the Duty to Serve Rule, and what it may mean for Rural America. The session was also intended to help inform comments to the Duty to Serve Rule.
Introduction | Power Point Presentation (22 MB) |Webinar Recording
Interactive Map of Proposed Duty to Serve Rural Area
HAC’s Rural and Small Town Typology Database – Technical Documentation
Map of HAC’s Recommended Changes to FHFA Proposed Rural Area
Map of GSE Loan Activity in Rural Areas
Map of FHFA Proposed Rural High-Need Areas and Persistent Poverty Counties
List of Suburban Tracts in FHFA Proposed Duty to Serve ‘Rural Areas’
List of Rural and Small Town Tracts Omitted From FHFA Proposed Duty to Serve ‘Rural Areas’