USDA Rural Development Obligations FY 19 – September
The Housing Assistance Council (HAC) presents this month’s report on Fiscal Year 2019 USDA Rural Housing program obligations.
As of the end of September, USDA obligated112,760 loans, loan guarantees, and grants totaling about $16,377,611,967. This is $2,042,040,512 less than obligation levels from this time last year. At that time, there were 131,487 loans, loan guarantees, and grants obligated totaling $18,419,652,479.
The agency operated under several continuing resolutions and a 35-day government shutdown early in 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 $14,865,886,386 (99,322 loan guarantees) down from $16,826,420,078 (115,864 loan guarantees) last year.
For the Section 502 Direct program, loan obligations totaled $1,001,607,718 (6,194 loans), down from $1,100,796,382 (7,199 loans) this time last year. About 37 percent of the loan dollars went to Very low-income (VLI) applicants. VLI loans represented nearly 42 percent of the total number of Section 502 Direct loans.
The Section 504 Repair and Rehabilitation programs obligated 2,735 loans representing $17,364,032. Loan volume was down from this time last year (3,225 loans representing $19,789,118.) There were also about $24,796,734 (2,735 grants) obligated in the Section 504 grant program compared to $28,193,015 (4,585 grants) last year.
USDA’s Section 523 Self Help Housing Grant program funded 37 grants and contracts totaling $29,001,946 down from last year’s 47 grants and contracts totaling $34,804,803.
USDA has also funded 7 credit sales representing $617,021.
Multi-Family Housing Programs
USDA’s Section 538 Multifamily Housing obligated 90 loan guarantees totaling $160,390,167, down from last year’s 132 loan guarantees ($185,639,985.) In the Section 515 Rural Rental Housing program, there were 85 loans totaling $101,484,348 (including disaster assistance) obligated compared to 35 loans totaling $42,609,649 last year. Obligations in the MPR program include 205 MPR loans totaling $130,308,556 and 3 grants totaling $988,934 compared to 186 loans and 2 grants representing $116,029,859 and $251,260 last year.
In the Farm Labor Housing programs, 17 loans and 7 grants have been funded totaling $19,985,387 and $8,707,162 respectively. Last year in September, 5 loans and 1 grant were obligated ($35,476,514 and $17,192,708, respectively.)
There were 130 Section 533 Housing Preservation grants totaling $14,478,530 have been obligated so far this year, compared to 143 grants last year totaling $10,764,080.
USDA obligated funds for 252,319 rental assistance units under the Section 521 Rental Assistance program totaling $1,331,400,000. This compares to about 268,514 units ($1,345,293,000) obligated same time last year. There were also 6,559 Rural Housing Vouchers totaling $28,623,289 compared to 6,353 vouchers representing $26,679,198 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.