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 – January
The Housing Assistance Council (HAC) presents this month’s report on Fiscal Year 2021 USDA Rural Housing program obligations.
As of the end of January, USDA obligated 47,476 loans, loan guarantees, and grants totaling about $8.1 billion, an increase of more than $3.1 billion over this time last year. At that time, there were 32,361 loans, loan guarantees, and grants obligated totaling nearly $5 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 will provide 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 nearly $7.8 billion (44,318 loan guarantees) an increase of nearly $4.8 billion (29,808 loan guarantees) over this time last year.
For the Section 502 Direct program, loan obligations totaled $292 million (1,623 loans), nearly double last year’s obligation level of $151 million (899 loans.) About 39 percent of the loan dollars went to Very Low-income (VLI) applicants. VLI loans represented almost 45 percent of the total number of Section 502 Direct loans.
The Section 504 Repair and Rehabilitation programs obligated 587 loans representing $3.4 million similar to last year’s 586 loans representing nearly $3.5 million. Section 504 grants were a bit lower than last year at $5.7 million (916 grants) compared to $6.3 million (1,029 grants) last year.
USDA’s Section 523 Self Help Housing Grant program funded 5 grants and contracts totaling nearly $3.5 million up from last year’s 2 grants and contracts totaling $1.9 million.
Multi-Family Housing Programs
USDA’s Section 538 Multifamily Housing obligated 20 loan guarantees totaling $64.6 million compared to last year’s 23 loan guarantees totaling nearly $34.1 million. No Section 515 Rural Rental Housing program have been funded so far this year, similar to last year at this time. No loans or grants have been obligated in the MPR program so far this year compared to 3 grants representing $988,734 last year.
So far this year, there have been no Farm Labor Housing loans or grants funded. Last year at this time, 7 loans and 4 grants were obligated ($12. 6 million and $3.9 million, respectively.)
USDA obligated funds for 38,592 rental assistance units under the Section 521 Rental Assistance program totaling $219.6 million, less than last year’s 46,336 units ($272.9 million) obligated same time last year. Section 542 Rural Housing Vouchers were up from last year at 1,675 vouchers totaling nearly $8.4 million compared to 913 vouchers representing nearly $4.7 million.
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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.
