USDA supports rural housing

As George Ford accurately conveyed in last Sunday's Gazette ('Housing shortage acute in rural Iowa,” May 31), rural housing is a critical issue in many small towns across Iowa and nationwide.

Both single-family houses and apartment complexes in smaller, rural communities tend to be older. Many have had the same owners for years and may be in need of an update. At the same time, developers looking to create new housing opportunities are hard to find in rural areas.

But the article ignored the positive impacts the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development's multifamily housing programs are having all across the state and failed to acknowledge the significant impact of our single-family housing programs.

June is National Homeownership Month, a time when USDA employees celebrate our commitment to provide affordable housing opportunities for rural Americans with limited means. In the last six years, USDA Rural Development has invested $1.4 billion to help 14,800 rural Iowa households with home loan purchases, either through a direct home loan or a loan guarantee used by a financial institution. We are also investing in loans and grants to help elderly, disabled and low-income homeowners make critical improvements and repairs to improve the quality of a community's overall housing stock.

Sunday's article indicated there are also tremendous needs in rural communities for rental housing. And we agree. USDA Rural Development has outstanding loans on 439 properties with 8,911 units across Iowa, apartment complexes that must be affordable and target a majority of their units to low-income tenants.

For more than a year now USDA Rural Development has made $150 million available nationwide to assist with construction, acquisition and/or rehabilitation of apartment complexes in rural communities. This program is intended to increase the supply of affordable rural rental housing through the use of loan guarantees that encourage partnerships between the agency, other public agencies and private lenders.

The statement from Sunday's article that indicated many apartment properties in the USDA program do not have the capital reserves needed to meet ongoing maintenance and operational costs is not accurate in Iowa. The majority of USDA-financed apartment complexes in our state meet their operational costs and have adequate reserves. In fact, Iowa has only a 1.4 percent delinquency rate on these properties. The credit goes to the owners (many of whom are local non-profits), managers, maintenance staff, and others who work hard every day to maintain and operate the complexes in manner that brings pride to them and the community.

Also, USDA's rental assistance program, which provided more than $20 million in rural Iowa last year and has nearly $1 billion available nationwide annually, significantly contributes to the financial stability of these complexes. In the end, rural communities will determine their housing needs and plan their own strategies to address those needs. USDA Rural Development can be, and in my mind, should be a partner. To hint that USDA has been, at best, a spectator in these efforts is a disservice to the employees and to the partners who collaborate with us to improve rural communities across Iowa.

' Bill Menner was appointed as the state director of USDA Rural Development by the White House in July 2009. In this position, he oversees an organization that provides housing, community facility, energy and business support across rural Iowa. Contact him at Bill.menner@ia.usda.gov