USDA Information and Data
Shawn Poynter / There Is More Work To Be Done
Shawn Poynter / There Is More Work To Be Done
USDA Rural Development Obligations FY 21 – August
The Housing Assistance Council (HAC) presents this month’s report on Fiscal Year 2021 USDA Rural Housing program obligations.
As of the end of August, USDA obligated 127,867 loans, loan guarantees, and grants totaling about $22 billion. This is $417 million above obligation levels from this time last year. At that time, there were 134,422 loans, loan guarantees, and grants obligated totaling $21.6 billion.
Federal agencies operated under a series of short-term continuing resolutions (CR) for most of the first quarter of FY 2021. A final CR was signed into law on December 27, 2020 which provides funding for the remainder of the fiscal year. Since March 20, 2020, USDA offices have been operating from remote locations due to the COVID-19 virus.
Single Family Housing Program Highlights
The Section 502 Guaranteed loan program, the largest of the Single Family Housing programs, obligated $20.9 billion (117,579 loan guarantees) up from this time last year’s nearly $20.3 billion (121,671 loan guarantees).
For the Section 502 Direct program, loan obligations totaled $935 million (5,004 loans), a bit less than last year’s obligation level of $990 million (5,738 loans.) About 37 percent of the loan dollars went to Very Low-income (VLI) applicants. VLI loans represented nearly 44 percent of the total number of Section 502 Direct loans.
The Section 504 Repair and Rehabilitation programs obligated 1,961 loans representing $12.4 million. Loan volume was below this time last year (2,376 loans representing $14.4 million.) There were also about $21 million (3,189 grants) obligated in the Section 504 grant program compared to $27.7 million (4,248 grants) last year.
USDA’s Section 523 Self Help Housing Grant program funded 36 grants and contracts totaling over $24.9 million compared to last year’s 35 grants and contracts totaling $29.3 million.
Multi-Family Housing Program Highlights
USDA’s Section 538 Multifamily Housing program obligated 64 loan guarantees totaling $153.8 million compared to last year’s 136 loan guarantees ($216.9 million.) One Section 515 Rural Rental Housing loan has been funded so far this year compared to 29 loans representing $31.7 million last year. In the MPR program, no loans or grants have been obligated so far this year. Last year, there were 38 loans and 5 grants obligated representing $44 million and $251,778 respectively last year.
Two Farm Labor Housing loans totaling $3.1 million, and no grants have been obligated so far this year. Last year at this time, 14 loans and 6 grants were obligated ($19.8 million and $6.2 million, respectively.)
USDA obligated funds for 197,018 rental assistance units under the Section 521 Rental Assistance program totaling over $1.1 billion. This compares to about 186,940 units (almost $1.1 billion) obligated same time last year. There were also 6,671 Rural Housing Vouchers totaling $32 million compared to 6,693 vouchers representing $30.9 million 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.
