The budget cuts on rural housing finance are raising many significant questions. In the present economic situation, where federal funding for the rural housing projects is much needed, the budget cut is really distressing. According to the rural market experts, Section 538 Rural Rental Loan Guarantee Program has offered the most effective service in this regard. However, the recent budget cut is much likely to affect the proceeding of this program and home loan rate for buying a rural property.
Rural economics – Demand vs. supply
Only about 19% Americans live in rural areas. The average yearly income of a rural household is lower than an urban one. The poverty rate in the rural America is about 15%, whereas the rate is almost 13% in urban America. Section 538 by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the largest mortgage lender in rural America. Till the end of 2011, the program funded about 700 rural housing projects. Unfortunately, this program has become the primary victim of budget cut. It received 130 million USD in FY 2010; while in FY 2011, the Congress appropriated only 30 million USD. The appropriation for FY 2012 is zero. If Section 538 does not get any funding in this year, the prospect of the program is going to be doomed.
Difficulties faced by rural housing development
Considering budget deficit, one can say that it is difficult to construct affordable housing units in rural areas and thereby the obvious option of rental housing comes into play. Interested banks to offer mortgage loans in less developed rural areas with limited facilities are hard to find. So only a very few affluent developers, who won’t require mortgage loans, will be left to build housing units in rural areas and rent them out. Rural Americans are switching to rental units due to the scarcity of mortgage lenders. Although some organizations like HUD are getting some interest in investing in rural housing projects, yet urban and suburban areas seem more interesting to them.
Choices other than Section 538
Present economic situation challenges the government to cut spending by all means. Section 538 is not likely to become active at this point of time, but still there are few alternatives to this popular program and those are,
A TX-based rural project with tax credit allocation has been accepted by HUD into FHA 221(d) (4) program and the borrower was allowed to pay back his mortgage over a timeframe of 40 years. The borrower got the loan with low rate of interest.
Some Section 515 apartments were preserved through 4 percent credits, bonds and also 538 guarantee. The same thing can be done with other government funded entities in place of Section 538.
Challenges are everywhere; lenders should accept the challenge of investing in rural projects. The borrowers should also come up. They must look for ways to take out home mortgage loan and buy a home in rural America.
– by Chris
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