WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Senator Mark Pryor today announced the USDA has suspended its poor decision to prevent residents in certain rural communities from using a popular and essential rural development home loan program.
In a response to Pryor’s concerns, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack agreed to provide a one-year delay on “rural in character” designations pertaining to a rural housing program that enables low-income Arkansas the opportunity to become homeowners. Pryor was alerted by concerned Arkansans in early August that USDA arbitrarily cut off 5 Arkansas communities—Van Buren, Russellville, Cabot, Paragould and Searcy—from the program.
“USDA was out of bounds in denying these communities access to rural housing programs. Suspending its actions is the right thing to do. It allows Arkansas households to continue to benefit from this successful housing program and provides time for stakeholders to be part of the decision-making process,” said Pryor. “I appreciate Secretary Vilsack’s willingness to ensure the “rural in character” designations are done right.”
Secretary Vilsack’s letter to Senator Pryor is below:
Thank you for your letter of August 5, 2014, concerning “rural in character” designations and the impact these designations can have on communities‘ eligibility for benefits under Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Housing Service (RHS) Section 502 Single Family Housing direct and guaranteed loan programs. In response to your concerns and others recently voiced, through September 30, 2015, I am suspending work on determinations and any designations that would make a place ineligible solely based on “rural in character” criteria.
As you noted, USDA‘s rural housing programs provide many very low- and low-income rural
Americans the opportunity to become successful homeowners. Therefore, “rural in character” designations have a direct impact on the lives of individuals, well-being of households, andhousing options in communities across the country. I welcome this opportunity to reviewdecision-making processes related to “rural in character” determinations.
Factors considered in making “rural in character” determinations typically include population, density, and other data, some of which is subjective, as well as feedback from the public andstakeholders. Final “rural in character” designations are made at the discretion of State Offices, which have ready access to local information and residents, as well as knowledge of communitycharacteristics. To ensure the reasonableness of these designations, the RHS program handbook(HB-1-3550 Paragraph 5.3C) directs State Offices to notify the public of any designationchanges proposed.
As stated above, through September 30, 2015, I am suspending work on determinations and any designations that would make a place ineligible solely based on “rural in character” criteria. During this suspension, RHS will review and modify its determination procedures. RHS will also evaluate and standardize its communications processes to ensure there is appropriate opportunity for public comment and consideration before final designations are issued. Absentfurther legislative changes, all other eligibility updates resulting from the newly enacted “ruralarea” definition in the 2014 Farm Bill will proceed for fiscal year 2015; on October 1, 2014,RHS will update the program area eligibility maps with only those changes unrelated to “rural incharacter” ineligibility determinations.
Thank you again for sharing your concerns on this matter and for helping to make USDA‘s
housing programs a success.
