USDA reminds residents of the impact of rural homeownership

Taylor Lane, The News Courier, Athens, Ala.
·4 min read

Jul. 12—The USDA offers many programs to aid in rural homeownership. These programs include loan programs with varying eligibility requirements to aid in buying or repairing a house.

The News Courier spoke with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Alabama State Director Nivory Gordon Jr. regarding the importance of rural homeownership and programs the USDA has in place to further rural homeownership in Alabama.

"'Home' is a word with many meanings", said Gordon. "It's the community that you're from or that you live in. It's the place that you're connected to. It's the structure in which you live, no matter if it's a home that you own or a place that you rent. Through USDA's programs, we here in Alabama are hard at work helping families and individuals get into safe and comfortable places to live, to raise a family, or to proudly call 'home.'"

Gordon went on to say, "America is a place where I think everyone can call home. We are trying our best to expand opportunities for homeownership which strengthens rural communities and helps families and individuals build wealth and achieve financial stability. Well-built energy-efficient, affordable housing is essential, and it plays a vital role to our tribal lands and communities in the state of Alabama and across America."

The USDA offers many programs to assist in rural homeownership:

* The Single-Family Housing Direct Home Loan Program provides loans directly to families and individuals so they can buy or build homes in rural America. According to the USDA website, "this program assists low- and very-low-income applicants obtain decent, safe and sanitary housing in eligible rural areas by providing payment assistance to increase an applicant's repayment ability. Payment assistance is a type of subsidy that reduces the mortgage payment for a short time. The amount of assistance is determined by the adjusted family income."

* Applicants must: be without decent, safe and sanitary housing, unable to obtain a loan from other resources on terms and conditions that can reasonably be expected to meet, agree to occupy the property as your primary residence, and have the legal capacity to incur a loan obligation, meet citizenship or eligible noncitizen requirements, not be suspended or debarred from participation in federal programs.

* Properties financed with direct loan funds must: generally, be 2,000 square feet or less, not have market value in excess of the applicable area loan limit, not be designed for income-producing activities.

* The Single-Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program enables USDA to partner with private lending institutions, backing their loans to help families and individuals buy homes in rural areas. According to the USDA website, "the Section 502 Guaranteed Loan Program assists approved lenders in providing low- and moderate-income households the opportunity to own adequate, modest, decent, safe and sanitary dwellings as their primary residence in eligible rural areas. Eligible applicants may purchase, build, rehabilitate, improve or relocate a dwelling in an eligible rural area with 100 percent financing. The program provides a 90 percent loan note guarantee to approved lenders in order to reduce the risk of extending 100 percent loans to eligible rural homebuyers — so no money down for those who qualify."

* Applicants must: meet income-eligibility (cannot exceed 115 percent of median household income), agree to personally occupy the dwelling as their primary residence, be a U.S. Citizen, U.S. non-citizen national or Qualified Alien.

* The Home Repair Loan and Grant Program provides loans and grants to help families and individuals repair their homes to make them safer, healthier places to live. To qualify, you must: be the homeowner and occupy the house, be unable to obtain affordable credit elsewhere, have a household income that does not exceed the very low limit by county or grants, be age 62 or older and not be able to repay a repair loan.

* The Mutual Self-Help Housing Grant Program provides grants to qualified organizations to help them carry out local self-help housing construction projects. Eligible applicants include: government non-profit organizations, federally-recognized Tribes, private non-profit organizations

* The Housing Preservation Grant Program provides grants to qualified organizations for the repair or rehabilitation of housing owned or occupied by low- and very-low-income rural citizens.

Beyond homeownership, the USDA also assists renters in finding and affording safe, affordable and adequate housing in rural areas.

The USDA is currently helping nearly 300,000 tenants nationwide afford to pay their rent through rental assistance. This assistance ensures low-income and elderly tenants pay no more than 30 percent of their income in rent.

The USDA has invested $401.7 million to help 2,243 families and individuals in rural and Tribal communities buy, repair and build homes through USDA Rural Development's single family housing programs in fiscal year 2022 to date in Alabama. In fiscal year 2021, USDA invested $828.3 million to help 4,947 rural individuals and families buy, repair, and rebuild rural homes across the state.

To apply for any of the mentioned programs or to find more information, visit the USDA website.