HAC President & CEO, David Lipsetz, testifies in front of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development

HAC’s CEO Testifies to Senate Banking Subcommittee on Rural Housing Reforms

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HAC was honored to be invited to testify on May 2, 2023 before the Housing, Transportation, and Community Development Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs to discuss commonsense, bipartisan reforms to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service (RHS) programs. HAC’s President & CEO, David Lipsetz, was one of five witnesses on the hearing panel.

The hearing was held to discuss the bipartisan Rural Housing Service Reform Act of 2023, which has been introduced by Subcommittee Chairwoman Tina Smith (D-MN) and Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD). The RHS Reform Act includes a slate of provisions to improve the multifamily, single-family, and capacity building programs at RHS. Senators Smith and Rounds engaged deeply with stakeholders on the creation of the bill, including offering a call for policy recommendations in the summer of 2022. HAC’s response to that comment opportunity can be seen here. We were thrilled to see many of our recommendations included in the bill, and applaud Senators Smith and Rounds on their thoughtful engagement with stakeholders and their commitment to improving the RHS programs.

Highlights from the RHS Reform Act include:

  • Multifamily

    • Authorizing the Multifamily Preservation and Revitalization (MPR) program and Multifamily Preservation Technical Assistance Program
    • Allowing for the decoupling of a Section 515 mortgage and Section 521 Rental Assistance
    • Allowing Section 542 rural vouchers to be adjusted based on changes in tenant income
    • Streamlining the process for Section 515 nonprofit transfers and increasing the Section 515 nonprofit set aside

  • Single Family

    • Establishing the Native CDFI Section 502 relending program
    • Increasing the threshold for the mortgage requirement on a Section 504 home rehab loan from $7,500 to $15,000
    • Extending the loan term for a Section 502 loan up to 40 years

  • Capacity Building

    • Authorizing the Rural Community Development Initiative (RCDI) and waiving the matching funds requirement for groups working in areas of persistent poverty
    • Requiring RHS to publish more data on their housing programs
    • Authorizing funding for much needed technology upgrades at RHS
Watch the Recording Read David’s Testimony HAC’s 2023 Policy Priorities

News Coverage

HAC in the News

Advocates eye farm bill to avert drop in affordable rural housing – CQ Roll Call

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By Caitlin Reilly

Posted April 11, 2023 at 5:00am

Housing advocates are turning to this year’s farm bill in an effort to steer rural communities away from an affordable housing cliff ahead.

Without action from Congress, rural communities stand to lose more than 100,000 affordable rental units in the next decade as federally subsidized loans used to build the apartments are paid off, ending landlords’ obligations to keep rents low. In a second blow for those renters, they will lose their eligibility for the Agriculture Department’s rental assistance.

“It’s a big problem, and it’s going to only get worse,” said Sarah Saadian, senior vice president of public policy at the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

“The heyday or the peak of rural housing was in the ’70s and ’80s, when their rental housing program was nearly a billion-dollar program, and it’s been cut really dramatically over the last several decades,” Saadian said in an interview. “All of those properties that were built at that time are now reaching the end of the maturity on their 515 mortgage, or the 515 loans that USDA provides in order to get those properties built.”

Advocates are pushing Congress to include provisions in the farm bill that would decouple the two programs, allowing the Agriculture Department to provide rental assistance even after a building’s owner has paid off the subsidized mortgage.

Read the full article

“The biggest issue in rural housing is the rapid loss of the 515 units due to mortgage maturity, prepayments, foreclosures. That is the 800-pound gorilla, or really the $31 billion gorilla over the next 30 years to preserve.”

Policy News from Congress

HAC’s Research Director Testifies to Senate Banking Committee on the State of Housing 2023

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HAC was deeply honored by an invitation to testify at the first hearing held in the new 118th Congress by the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. Titled The State of Housing 2023, the session featured Lance George, HAC’s Director of Research and Information, as one of  three witnesses.

A wide range of topics was covered by the witnesses’ testimony and the Senators’ questions. Among the key areas of concern were the gap between housing supply and need, the high cost of both homeownership and rental housing, and what congressional actions could address these challenges. Committee Chair Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) asked specifically about the loss of rentals financed by USDA’s Section 515 program, a serious concern addressed by HAC research in 2016 and 2022.

Key Takeaways

Lance’s statement made five key points about the state of rural housing in 2023:

  • The pandemic left its mark on rural America and housing markets remain uncertain.
  • Rural mortgage markets are being impacted by interest rates and prices too.
  • Affordability is the greatest housing challenge in rural America, by far.
  • Manufactured housing is an often overlooked but important source of housing – especially in rural America.
  • Race matters across the rural spectrum – especially in housing.

Key policy recommendations, based on HAC’s full set of policy priorities for 2023, included:

  • Increase rural communities’ access to credit and capital and strengthen USDA and HUD homeownership supports.
  • Improve opportunities and financing for preserving aging rental properties and protecting tenants.
  • Authorize the powerful Rural Community Development Initiative and a significant cross-sectoral, flexible capacity building rural investment initiative.

Read Lance’s Statement

Lance George

Lance George

HAC’s Director of Research & Information

Watch the Hearing


Home Mortgage Demand Declined in Rural America
Housing Assistance Council

Home Mortgage Demand Declined in Rural America Too

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Signs and Trends from a USDA Housing Finance Product

There have been numerous business and media reports on the slowdown in homebuying and mortgage activity in recent months. This market response is largely related to recent interest rate increases for 30-year fixed mortgages spurred by the Federal Reserve raising its benchmark rates. According to some estimates, the rate of mortgage applications nationally fell by half in 2022. Are mortgage markets behaving similarly in rural America too? Data from the Department of Agriculture (USDA) on its Guaranteed Home Loan product signals that rural homebuyers hit the brakes in 2022 as well. In the last fiscal year, USDA loan guarantees plummeted by more than 40 percent from their 2021 level and dropped well below the 100,000-loan mark to guarantee 72,000 loans.

Download the Research Note.

HAC Advises Housing Protections and Education for H-2A Farmworkers

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HAC responded on October 24, 2022, to a request for information from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), which is developing a Farm Labor Stabilization and Protection Pilot Program.  FSA says this “grant program will use up to $65 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to provide support for agricultural employers in implementing robust labor standards to promote a safe, healthy work environment for both U.S. workers and workers hired from Northern Central American countries under the seasonal H-2A visa program.”

HAC’s comments noted that currently, the H-2A program requires employers to provide free housing to visa holders that complies with a set of guidelines. While the law requires these living quarters to be inspected before occupancy, Department of Labor (DOL) data shows that neither federal nor state governments have allocated sufficient resources to conduct these inspections. In 38 states, there is no regulation of farmworker housing or dedicated agency to perform the required inspections. States that do have housing inspection systems in place are often under resourced.

Key takeaways:

  • Affordable, Decent Housing

    The pilot program should incentivize accessible, affordable, and decent housing for farmworkers

  • Wellness Checks

    This pilot program should fund farmworker organizations and partner organizations who are on the ground and familiar with farmworker communities to perform regular wellness checks

  • Survey of Conditions

    The pilot program should fund a detailed, comprehensive survey on farmworker housing conditions

  • Appropriate Communication

    Services and information should be provided in appropriate languages and using appropriate communication techniques

  • Training in Rights

    Trainings and informational resources should be made available that cover workers’ rights (including housing) and how to report exploitative practices

Policy News from Congress

HAC’s Stakeholder Comments on Rural Housing Service Programs

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HAC submitted comments to Senators Tina Smith (D-MN) and Mike Rounds (R-SD), the Chair and Ranking Member of the Housing, Transportation, and Community Development Subcommittee of the Senate Banking Committee, in response to their call for recommendations on how to improve the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Housing Service (RHS) programs. RHS programs are a critical source of housing for our nation’s small towns and rural places. HAC hopes that Senators Smith and Rounds will use these stakeholder comments to help improve the efficiency and impact of RHS programs, especially as more multifamily properties leave the USDA portfolio.

Topline Takeaways  

  • Multifamily

    HAC strongly recommends that the Senators authorize important multifamily preservation programs and simplify the process for transferring properties to non-profit owners in order to help more properties remain in RHS programs and maintain their affordability. HAC also recommends that the Senators investigate the rental assistance programs available in rural areas and extend these to more rural renters.  

  • Single family

    HAC recommends that the Senators improve the Section 504 program which provides grants for single family home repair. Simplifying and making this program’s funds more accessible would help more families stay in their homes and preserve single family homeownership. 

  • Capacity building

    Many communities have the willingness and desire to help improve their housing opportunities but lack the technical skill or capacity to accomplish their goals. HAC recommends authorizing capacity building programs that would help communities develop the tools they need to thrive. 

  • RHS staffing and operations

    HAC recommends improving the workflow within RHS and updating the technology the RHS staff uses to increase efficiency and help RHS better serve rural communities.  

Read HAC’s Comments

HAC Comments on RHS Reforms
Introduction to USDA's Mutual Self-Help Housing

Self-Help Housing Trainings from HAC’s Conference

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Self-Help Housing

There are many potential homeowners who fall short financially but are able to contribute time and labor toward the construction or rehabilitation of their homes.

The self-help housing model helps bridge the gap in housing affordability by having participant families work together to build their homes. Instead of requiring a down payment, the prospective homeowners contribute their own labor to the project. When these families work together, they learn valuable construction skills and build a sense of community with their neighbors.

These five workshops, first recorded at HAC’s Virtual National Rural Housing Conference, provide an overview of the self-help housing process, how it works, and information on how local organizations can incorporate it into their efforts.

This session provides an overview of USDA’s Mutual Self-Help Housing program. It covers funding possibilities, regulation requirements, and the grant application process, as well as eligible grant uses, program development, staffing needs, and feasibility.

USDA-supported self-help housing rehab activities (acquisition/rehab and owner-occupied rehab) can be viable additions to affordable housing work. This session is designed for organizations currently active in the program as well, as those considering it. Workshop leaders share the latest instructions and guidance governing rehab activities and show before-and-after pictures of self-help projects. The discussion focuses on challenges, successes, and best practices in delivering the program. The audience was able to ask questions about the impacts of COVID. One of the presenters shares the key to the self-help method with a quote.

“Helping people help themselves benefits the participants and the community while making better use of scarce resources.”

In this session, experts present information on recent improvements to SHARES for group coordinators. Workshop leaders also provide an overview of how to use e-Forms for submitting Section 502 and 504 applications. A nonprofit marketing specialist provides strategies for how to use social media, email marketing, and design to share about your work with self-help programs. Self-help grantees are encouraged to share their updates on https://www.selfhelphousingspotlight.org/.

Learn what’s new in Section 502 loan packaging and how to avoid common errors and omissions that cause delays in processing 502 loan applications. This session will help packagers improve the quality and completeness of applications to get faster loan closings for families.

5 challenges in 502 Packaging

  1. Significant Delinquencies, how credit worthiness impacts application processing and what can be done to streamline this step.
  2. How to account for full-time student income and student loan debt.
  3. COVID’s impact on calculating income and how to account for variations.
  4. What forms of verification are acceptable and what can a packager use to verify application details?
  5. What has COVID’s impact been on budgets and materials and how to best incorporate them into the loan process?

The coronavirus pandemic’s cost overages, material delays, and numerous other challenges have intensified the need for leveraged funds in self-help housing programs. Learn how leveraged funds can not only increase affordability and resources for applicants, but also build an organization’s capacity and control. Leveraging can also better position an organization for program diversification to address community needs.

HAC in the News

Congressional Hearing Focuses on the Potential of Manufactured Housing

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HAC’s Director of Research, Lance George, was one of several witnesses to provide testimony at a hearing of the House Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee on  Manufactured Housing: Supporting America’s Largest Unsubsidized Affordable Housing Stock. North Carolina news station WRAL covered the hearing and provided local perspective on the potential for manufactured housing to increase housing affordability in the region.

Policy News from Congress

HAC’s Research Director to Speak at Congressional Manufactured Housing Hearing

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The House Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee is holding a hearing May 26 on Manufactured Housing: Supporting America’s Largest Unsubsidized Affordable Housing Stock, with HAC’s Director of Research and Information, Lance George, among the witnesses. His testimony explains the importance of manufactured homes as affordable housing in rural America and the challenges facing manufactured housing residents, owners, and communities. It suggests that new research is needed to inform evidence-based solutions and that Congress could help address pressing challenges by providing grants for land acquisition by resident owned cooperatives, other mission-focused nonprofits, and public sector housing agencies, as well as financing for individual homeowners.

 

Lance George Statement to House THUD Committee - May 26, 2022

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