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 – February
The Housing Assistance Council (HAC) presents this month’s report on Fiscal Year 2021 USDA Rural Housing program obligations.
As of the end of February, USDA obligated 60,232 loans, loan guarantees, and grants totaling about $10.3 billion. This is approximately $2.1 billion higher than obligation levels from this time last year when 53,209 loans, loan guarantees, and grants were obligated totaling nearly $8.2 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 approximately $9.9 billion (56,221 loan guarantees) up from nearly $7.8 billion (48,119 loan guarantees) this time last year.
For the Section 502 Direct program, loan obligations totaled $356.9 million (1,965 loans), a bit lower than last year’s $366 million (2,157 loans.) About 38 percent of the loan dollars went to Very Low-income (VLI) applicants. VLI loans represented over 44 percent of the total number of Section 502 Direct loans.
The Section 504 Repair and Rehabilitation programs obligated 750 loans and 1,245 grants representing about $4.4 million and 7.9 million respectively. Loan volume was lower than this time last year (1,015 loans representing $6.2 million) while grants totaled $12.0 million (1,869 grants).
USDA’s Section 523 Self Help Housing Grant program funded 6 grants and contracts totaling $3.7 million up from last year’s 3 grants and contracts totaling $1.9 million.
Multi-Family Housing Programs
USDA’s Section 538 Multifamily Housing program obligated 35 loan guarantees totaling nearly $68.4 million compared to last year’s 29 loan guarantees ($60.7 million.) No Section 515 Rural Rental Housing program have been funded so far this year, similar to last year at this time. There were also no loans or grants obligated so far in FY 21 under the MPR program compared to 3 grants representing $988,734 at this time last year.
No Farm Labor Housing loans or grants have been funded so far this year. Last year at this time, 9 loans and 5 grants were obligated (about $18.6 million and nearly $5.9 million respectively.)
USDA obligated funds for 38,592 rental assistance units under the Section 521 Rental Assistance program totaling $219.6 million. This compares to about 83,226 units ($477.2 million) obligated same time last year. There were also 1,939 Rural Housing Vouchers totaling about $9.7 million compared to 2,340 vouchers representing just over $11 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.
