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Major Push Urged to Address Unmet Rural Housing Needs

A broad partnership of federal government agencies, government-sponsored enterprises, state and local governments, for-profit entities and non-profit groups is needed to provide affordably priced housing in rural parts of the country, Bobby Rayburn, first vice president of NAHB, told the Housing and Community Opportunity Subcommittee last week.

“The existing rental stock is aging and requires extensive rehabilitation, and access to competitively priced credit for potential home buyers, as well as builders, remains a problem in many rural areas,” Rayburn testified.

He cited several initiatives to help solve the problem:

• In states where they have been given a priority, HOME Investment Partnerships and Community Development Block Grants have scored some success, Rayburn said. Additional appropriations for these programs, which distribute HUD funds to states and local jurisdictions through block grants, would be “valuable.”
• Rayburn called for the Department of Agriculture to rededicate itself to work in partnership with a wide range of organizations to address rural housing needs.

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• Congress was urged to support a $300 million funding level for Sec. 515 Rural Housing Service programs for the production of new multifamily housing for very-low income households in rural areas. The Administration’s fiscal 2004 budget makes no provisions for housing production under the program.
• Rayburn called on Congress to double the Administration’s $100 million funding request for the Sec. 538 guaranteed loan program, which finances the construction, acquisition or rehabilitation of rural multifamily housing for lower-income residents.
• Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Banks, state housing agencies, the Farm Credit System, HUD and local lenders need to play a greater role in improving the availability of housing credit in rural areas, he said.

Photo by Herman Farrer
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