USDA Information and Data

USDA Rural Development Obligations FY 19 – April

The Housing Assistance Council (HAC) presents this month’s report on Fiscal Year 2019 USDA Rural Housing program obligations.

As of the end of April, USDA obligated 53,177 loans, loan guarantees, and grants totaling $7,457,480,989. This is $2,493,674,788 less than obligation levels from the same time last year when there were 71,545 loans, loan guarantees, and grants obligated totaling $9,951,155,777.

The agency has been operating under several continuing resolutions and a 35-day government shutdown since the beginning of the fiscal year. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019 was signed into law on February 15, 2019 which provided funding for the rest of the fiscal year.

Single Family Housing Program Highlights

The Section 502 Guaranteed loan program, the largest of the Single Family Housing programs, obligated $6,961,849,991 (48,113 loan guarantees) down from $9,344,108,146 (64,441 loan guarantees) at the same time last year.

For the Section 502 Direct program, the agency obligated $373,232,082 (2,366 loans), down from $470,085,569 (3,172 loans) in loan obligations this time last year. Very lowincome (VLI) loan obligations as a percentage of the total Section 502 Direct loan dollars was 36 percent. VLI loans represented 41 percent of the total number of Section 502 Direct loans.

The Section 504 Repair and Rehabilitation programs obligated 1,112 loans representing $6,630,392. Loan volume was down from this time last year (1,512 loans representing $9,060,511 million.) There were also $8,897,038 (1,112 grants) obligated in the Section 504 grant program compared to $2,430,119 (2,304 grants) at the same time last year.

USDA’s Section 523 Self Help Housing Grant program funded 7 grants and contracts totaling $7,052,393, up from last year at this time when 5 grants and contracts were funded totaling $14,238,816.

USDA has also funded 4 credit sales representing $304,961.

Multi-Family Housing Programs

USDA’s Section 538 Multifamily Housing obligated 48 loan guarantees totaling $72,502,085, down from last year’s 60 loan guarantees ($82,500,369.) In the Section 515 Rural Rental Housing program, there were 30 loans totaling $22,963,582 obligated compared to 14 loans totaling $12,095,965 this time last year. There has been 1 MPR loan totaling $537,865 and no grants obligated compared to 15 loans and 2 grants representing $15,650,054 and $251,260 this time last year.

In the Farm Labor Housing programs, 2 loans and 2 grants have been funded totaling $2,070,000 and $1,400,000 respectively. Last year in April, there were no loans or grants.

No Section 533 Housing Preservation grants obligated so far this year, similar to this time last year.

USDA obligated funds for 155,727 rental assistance units under the Section 521 Rental Assistance program totaling $807,221,198 million. This compares to 133,633 units ($662,237,636) obligated same time last year. There were also 3,843 Rural Housing Vouchers totaling $16,991,439 compared to 3,763 vouchers representing $15,497,346 this time last year.

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* 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 michael@ruralhome.org.