Rural Housing Service – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Rural Business-Cooperative Service, Rural Housing Service, and the Rural Utilities Service, agencies of the Rural Development mission area within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), hereinafter collectively referred to as the Agency, are proposing a unified guaranteed loan platform for enhanced delivery of four of its existing guaranteed loan programs: Community Facilities (CF) administered by the Rural Housing Service; Water and Waste Disposal (WWD) administered by the Rural Utilities Service; and, Business and Industry (B&I) and Rural Energy for America (REAP) administered by the Rural Business-Cooperative Service. Collectively, these four Rural Development's guaranteed loan programs work to assist in building and maintaining sustainable rural communities. This rule incorporates new and revised provisions intended to simplify, improve, expand and enhance the delivery of the four guaranteed loan programs. These provisions include, among others, clearly defining specific project eligibility criteria, revising the requirements for lenders to participate in the programs, and streamlining the documentation requirements for submission of guaranteed loan applications.

The general debt management regulations of the Department of Agriculture (USDA) provide that individual USDA agencies may issue regulations for their own specific debt collection activities principally in recognition that the agencies conducted debt collection activities prior to the enactment of the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 (DCIA). Many of the provisions of individual agencies are redundant to part 3. This rule will eliminate the debt collection regulations of the following USDA agencies, and part 3 will be revised to include specific provisions used by these agencies: the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC); the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC), and the Farm Service Agency (FSA). In addition, as required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Improvements Act of 2015 (the 2015 Civil Penalties Act), this rule updates the size of civil monetary penalties to reflect inflationary adjustments for 2020.

The Rural Housing Service, hereinafter referred to as the Agency, will temporarily allow borrowers with direct loans within the Community Facilities (CF) Program to request payment deferrals during the period specified in the DATES section of this notification. This temporary authorization applies to CF direct loan borrowers who are experiencing temporary cash flow issues due to the Coronavirus (COVID- 19) pandemic. The Agency will provide the option of principal and interest payment deferrals to borrowers impacted by COVID-19 for up to one year due to hardship on a case-by-case basis.

The Rural-Business Cooperative Service (RBCS), Rural Housing Service (RHS), and Rural Utilities Service (RUS) agencies of the Rural Development mission area, hereinafter referred to as Agency, issued a notification in the Federal Register on March 31, 2020, that allows lenders with guaranteed loans with the Agency to unilaterally offer payment deferrals for the period specified in the notice to their customers who may be experiencing temporary cash flow issues due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This notification supplements the prior notification and includes additional servicing flexibilities regarding Agency guaranteed loan requirements as they relate to the new loans that are covered by Section 1102 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the intention of the above-named agency to request Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) approval for a revision of a currently approved information collection in support of the Single- Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program (SFHGLP).

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the intention of the above-named Agencies to request Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) approval for a revision of a currently approved information collection in support of the servicing of Community and Direct Business Programs Loans and Grants.

The Rural Housing Service (Agency), an Agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), announces the acceptance of applications under the Rural Community Development Initiative (RCDI) program. Applicants must provide matching funds in an amount at least equal to the Federal grant. These grants will be made to qualified intermediary organizations that will provide financial and technical assistance to recipients to develop their capacity and ability to undertake projects related to housing, community facilities, or community and economic development that will support the community. This Notice announces that the Agency is accepting fiscal year (FY) 2020 applications for the RCDI program. Successful applications will be selected by the Agency for funding and subsequently awarded from funds appropriated for the RCDI program. The Agency will publish the amount of funding on its website at https://www.rd.usda.gov/newsroom/notices- solicitation-applications-nosas.

As part of the Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act, 2019, dated June 6, 2019, the Rural Housing Service's Community Facilities (CF) Technical Assistance and Training (TAT) Grant Program is making available $7,500,000 in supplemental grant funding for eligible expenses related to the consequences of Hurricanes Michael and Florence and wildfires occurring in calendar year 2018, tornadoes and floods occurring in calendar year 2019, and other natural disasters. Any funds not awarded under this funding notice will be transferred to the CF Disaster Grant Program. The authority for the Agency to administer the CF TAT Grant Program is provided in Section 6006 of the Agriculture Act of 2014. The grant funds will be administered in accordance with this notice of funds availability.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Rural Housing Service (RHS) invites comments on this information collection for which approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will be requested. The intention is to request a revision for a currently approved information collection in support of the program for Community Facility Loans.

Through this proposed rule, the Rural Housing Service (RHS or Agency) is proposing to amend its regulations to update and improve the direct Single-Family Housing (SFH) loans and grants programs. The proposed changes would increase program flexibility, allow more borrowers to access affordable loans, better align the programs with best practices, and enable the programs to be more responsive to economic conditions and trends.

This notice announces implementation of several provisions of the 2018 Farm Bill related to the Rural Housing Service (RHS) and the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) agencies of the Rural Development mission area of the United States Department of Agriculture, USDA, sometimes hereinafter referred to as Agency. Specifically, it provides notice of the population change in the rural area definition for the Community Facilities (CF) Guaranteed Loan Program and the Water and Waste Disposal (WWD) Guaranteed Loan Program and priorities for each program. It also provides established fee levels for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 for the CF Guaranteed Loan Program. This Notice is being issued prior to enactment of full year appropriation for FY 2020. The Agency will publish the amount of funding received in the final appropriations act on its website at https://www.rd.usda.gov/newsroom/fy2020-appropriated-funding.

The Rural Housing Service (RHS or the Agency) is proposing to amend its regulation to remove the stated amount that the Agency will charge for the initial and annual guarantee fees. The regulation change will allow the Agency the flexibility to establish or make any future changes to the initial and annual guarantee fees without the need for a regulatory change.

On July 22, 2019, the Rural Housing Service (RHS) published a final rule concerning construction to permanent loan financing, repair or rehabilitation financing, and the removal of a maximum the interest rate cap for the Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program. The effective date was published as August 21, 2019 and is being deferred to October 1, 2019.

The Rural Housing Service (RHS or Agency) published a proposed rule on June 20, 2018 to amend the current regulation for the Single- Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program (SFHGLP) Single Close Combination Construction to Permanent Loans (aka ``single close loans''), and now adopts the proposed changes in this final rule with some modifications. As proposed, the Agency will amend the regulation to ease the financial costs of interim construction financing for non- depository lenders (warehouse line of credit lenders or warehouse lenders) by allowing a temporary interest rate higher than the permanent note rate for interim construction financing, remove the requirement for loan modification or re-amortization once construction is complete, and allow for the reserve of regularly scheduled principal, interest, taxes and insurance (PITI) payments during the construction period. The final rule clarifies that the PITI reserve is an eligible use of single close loan funds. In addition, based on comments received, the Agency will allow single close loans for the rehabilitation of existing dwellings upon their purchase and eliminate maximum interest rate cap requirements for all SFHGLP loans. For clarity and completeness, the final rule also provides a definition of a warehouse lender and updates lender mortgage record retention requirements.

The Rural Housing Service (RHS or Agency) published a proposed rule on August 31, 2018 to amend its regulations for the direct and guaranteed single family housing loan and grant programs. Through this action, RHS finalizes the rule as final based on public comments, but with a revision to the definition of rural area to cite the statute which defines rural area and with a technical correction to the suspension or debarment requirement.

The Rural Housing Service (RHS), an Agency within Rural Development, announces that it is soliciting competitive applications under its Housing Preservation Grant (HPG) program. This action is taken to comply with Agency regulations which requires the Agency to announce the opening and closing dates for receipt of pre-applications for HPG funds from eligible applicants. The Agency will publish the amount of funding on its website at https://www.rd.usda.gov/newsroom/notices-solicitation-applica tions- nosas. Expenses incurred in developing applications will be at the applicant's risk.

In accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974 as amended; Section 12204 of the Agricultural Act of 2014, Rural Development (RD) gives notice of its proposal to modify the system of records entitled USDA/RD-1 Current or Prospective Producers or Landowners, Applicants, Borrowers, Grantees, Tenants, and other participants in RD programs. To communicate the revision to the USDA RD-1 Systems of Records Notice in which the addition of Routine Use 26 below is published. However, this was not the only revised Routine Usethese were also revised: 1. Routine Use 21 was revised, 2. Routine Use 22 was added [OMB M-17-12 items], 3. In addition, Routine Uses 23 and 24 were renumbered to 24 and 25, respectively.

This Notice announces that the Rural Housing Service (Agency) is accepting Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 applications for the Community Facilities Technical Assistance and Training (TAT) Grant program. The Agency will publish the amount of funding received in the final appropriations act on its website at https://www.rd.usda.gov/newsroom/ notices-solicitation-applications-nosas. Awards will be made from available funding on or before September 15, 2019.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Rural Housing Service's (RHS) intention to request an extension for the currently approved information collection in support of our program for Complaints and Compensation for Construction Defects.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Rural Housing Service (RHS) invites comments on this information collection for the Housing Preservation Grant (HPG) Program, which approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will be requested.

The Rural Housing Service announces the low loan-to-cost ratio required for loans guaranteed under Option Three (Continuous Guarantee) of the Guaranteed Rural Rental Housing Program (GRRHP). The low loan- to-cost ratio is defined as a maximum of 70 percent in order for a loan to be eligible for a single continuous guarantee for construction and permanent loans. The Rural Housing Service is not modifying the lease- up reserves or percent of guarantee previously established for this program.

The Rural Housing Service (RHS or Agency) is amending its regulation to eliminate the requirement for the annual publication of Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). Additionally, RHS will remove all references to the term NOFA in other various sections. The intended effect of this action is to allow the Agency to accept and start processing applications in a more fluid manner.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development (RD), comprised of the Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS), Rural Housing Service (RHS), and Rural Utilities Service (RUS), hereafter referred to as the Agency, proposes amending the Agency's Environmental Policies and Procedures regulation to allow the Agency Administrators limited flexibility to obligate federal funds for infrastructure projects prior to completion of the environmental review while ensuring full compliance with National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedures prior to project construction and disbursement of funding. The proposed change will allow RD to more fully meet the Administration's goals to speed the initiation of infrastructure projects and encourage planned community economic development without additional cost to taxpayers or change to environmental review requirements.

This document corrects one item in the initial notice that published in the Federal Register on August 17, 2018, entitled ``Rural Development Cooperative Agreement Program.'' This correction revises the maximum available points for one scoring criteria.

Through this action, the Rural Housing Service (RHS or Agency) is proposing to amend its regulations for the direct and guaranteed single family housing loan and grant programs.