TOP STORIES

USDA court filings say reorganization plan is out of date

USDA’s Agency Reduction in Force and Reorganization Plan, which was written in 2025, filed in a court case on July 1 this year, and described in the July 16 HAC News, “does not reflect USDA’s current plans,” according to a July 24 filing in the same case. The July 24 document says that “the most accurate and up to date reorganization plans” are in a series of letters, each addressing a specific part of the department, sent by USDA Deputy Secretary Stephen Alexander Vaden to Senators John Hoeven (R-ND) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the Chair and Ranking Member of the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee. The court filings and the letters do not indicate whether any parts of the ARRP are still relevant.

Consistent with USDA’s June 17 webpage on RD reorganization, Vaden’s June 17 letter about Rural Development (pp. 54-58) does not provide any staffing numbers. The letter says:

This transition will not result in any State employees losing their positions or require relocation; instead, some RHS employees located in the States will be reporting to RHS national office. This restructuring will relocate some RHS national office employees. …

The State Operations Office (SOO) … will retain dedicated State-level personnel across all 47 State offices and area offices. …

RD is closing select field office locations. … Many of these locations have been vacant for years, face health or safety concerns, or were previously slated for closure. … No employee movement is required.

Vaden’s letter says, as USDA announced in June, that RHS’s “core national office functions” will be located in St. Louis, while the business and utilities programs will be centered in Dallas-Fort Worth. Reportedly, RD has begun sending relocation notices to employees, but one of Vaden’s letters to the Senate (p. 7) indicates that RD intends to initiate negotiations with the labor unions representing some RD staff “on or after July 20.”

Congress considers a continuing resolution

The House has passed a continuing resolution to fund the federal government at current levels from October 1 (the beginning of fiscal year 2027) through December 4, avoiding a government shutdown if appropriations bills are not completed on time. The Senate is expected to consider its own CR before the planned end of its current session on August 7. While the House bill has few “anomalies” – changes that are not simply carryovers from FY26 – the administration has requested that several anomalies be included in the final product. Both houses of Congress will be out for most of August, with the House returning to Washington on August 31 and the Senate not scheduled to return until mid-September.

ROAD to Housing rural summary posted

HAC has posted online a summary of the provisions in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act that directly address affordable housing in rural America.

RuralSTAT

In 2024, banks provided more than $25.6 billion for CRA-qualifying permanent financing to support multifamily housing benefiting low- and moderate-income communities and individuals, including nearly $200 million in lending in places outside metropolitan areas. Source: Center for Affordable Housing Lending, Incentive to Impact: How CRA Leverages Private Investments into Affordable Housing, Homeownership, Small Businesses, and Local Economies.

OPPORTUNITIES

Lead hazard and healthy homes grants available

HUD’s Lead Hazard Reduction grant program assists states, Tribes, cities, counties/parishes, or other units of local government in undertaking comprehensive programs to identify and control lead-based paint hazards in privately owned rental or owner-occupied housing. State, local, and Tribal governments with EPA-authorized lead abatement certifications are also eligible for Healthy Homes Supplemental funds. The deadline is August 31.

The Healthy Homes Production grants program supports nonprofits, states, local governments, and Tribes to focus on multiple housing-related hazards in privately owned, low-income rental and/or owner-occupied housing, especially in buildings where families with children, older adults 62 years and older, or families with persons with disabilities reside. Applications are due August 31.

HUD offers funds for modifying seniors’ homes

The Older Adult Home Modification Program assists experienced nonprofits, state and local governments, and public housing authorities in undertaking comprehensive programs that make safety and functional home modification repairs and renovations to enable low-income elderly persons to remain in their homes. Apply by August 31.

REGULATIONS AND FEDERAL AGENCIES

Public charge final rule issued

Under U.S. immigration law, when a non-citizen applies for permanent resident status, officials can consider the likelihood that the person may become a “public charge,” someone who uses certain kinds of federal assistance including housing aid. The Department of Homeland Security is rescinding its 2022 public charge regulations, effective on September 18. The 2022 rule listed seven factors that could be considered in determining the likelihood that a non-citizen might become a public charge. DHS will now allow officers to “consider any other factors or information relevant to determining an alien’s likelihood at any time of becoming a public charge in the totality of the alien’s circumstances.”

USDA revises Section 502 income limits, adds other handbook changes

USDA has revised its single-family program handbooks, updating its 2026 income limits for the Section 502 direct and guaranteed single-family loan programs and making other changes.

Transitional guidance on Opportunity Zones released

The IRS has published transitional guidance for those making investments in current Opportunity Zones, which retain their OZ designations through December 31, 2028. New OZ designations take effect on January 1, 2027. The IRS’s notice indicates that its forthcoming proposed regulations for the OZ program will include provisions similar to those in the transitional guidance.  

PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA

Housing costs remain out of reach

Housing affordability challenges nationwide are documented in Out of Reach, published every year by the National Low Income Housing Coalition. The report compares minimum wages to HUD’s Fair Market Rents and calculates “Housing Wages,” estimates of the hourly wages full-time workers must earn to afford rental homes at FMR without spending more than 30% of their incomes. In 2026, the average hourly wage earned by renters is $24.84, far less than the national two-bedroom Housing Wage of $34.73 and even the one-bedroom Housing Wage of $29.19. In 49 states (all except North Dakota), D.C., and Puerto Rico, renters earning the average renter wage must work more than 40 hours per week to afford a modest two-bedroom rental home. Data is available by state and county. For places in metro areas, zip code data is also provided. To view county data, navigate to the “more info” page about your state, click on “download state report,” and select the spreadsheet (the document with a name ending in .xlxs).

Report shows wide difference in rural and non-rural Opportunity Zone investments

A Treasury Department analysis of Opportunity Zone investments through 2024 updates a previous study that included data through 2020. The researchers used the rural OZ definition established in the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which will apply to the zones being selected through the process now underway. Through 2024, 77% of both rural OZs and non-rural OZs received OZ investments, but the average rural OZ received only $7.3 million, compared to $23.3 million for the average non-rural OZ. The amounts and proportions invested in rural places varied widely from state to state. The research also found that rural tracts eligible to be designated as OZs this year have higher homeownership rates, higher housing vacancy rates, and lower home values than eligible non-rural tracts. Also, the population in rural tracts is older, has lower educational attainment, and is less attached to the labor market than that in non-rural places.

Article looks at U.S. farms and guestworker programs

A recent Civil Eats article, Why US Farms Increasingly Rely on Guestworker Programs, explores the rapid growth of the H-2A agricultural guestworker program, which has become an increasingly important source of labor for U.S. farms. The article highlights how an aging farm labor force, fewer domestic workers willing to take agricultural jobs, and immigration enforcement pressures have contributed to greater reliance on temporary foreign workers, even as concerns about worker protections and labor abuses persist. The piece also examines ongoing debates over farm labor reform and what the future of agricultural labor may mean for stakeholders.

Loan guarantees expand rural access to capital in Arizona

Local First Arizona has launched the Rural Prosperity Fund, a loan guarantee pool that helps expand access to affordable financing in rural communities by reducing lender risk and increasing rural lending capacity. Backed by philanthropic investments, the fund supports projects such as affordable housing, infrastructure, community facilities, and essential nonprofit services while pairing borrowers with technical assistance to strengthen project success.

HAC

HAC is hiring

HAC job listings and application links are available on our website.

·       Loan Officer

·       Communications Specialist

Need capital for your affordable housing project?

HAC’s loan fund provides low interest rate loans to support single- and multifamily affordable housing projects for low-income rural residents throughout the U.S. and territories. Capital is available for all types of affordable and mixed-income housing projects, including preservation, new development, farmworker, senior and veteran housing. HAC loan funds can be used for pre-development, site acquisition, site development, construction/rehabilitation and permanent financing. Contact HAC’s loan fund staff at hacloanfund@ruralhome.org, 202-842-8600.

Please note: HAC is not able to offer loans to individuals or families. Borrowers must be nonprofit or for-profit organizations or government entities (including Tribes).

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