Rural Housing Service – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Rural Housing Service (RHS or Agency) is amending the current regulation for the Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program (SFHGLP) on the subjects of lender indemnification, refinancing, and qualified mortgage requirements. The Agency is expanding its lender indemnification authority for loss claims in the case of fraud, misrepresentation, or noncompliance with applicable loan origination requirements. This action is taken to continue the Agency's efforts to improve and expand the risk management of the SFHGLP. The Agency is amending its refinancing provisions to simply require that the new interest rate not exceed the interest rate on the original loan and to add a new refinance option, ``streamlined-assist.'' Finally, the agency is amending its regulation to indicate that a loan guaranteed by RHS is a Qualified Mortgage if it meets certain requirements set forth by the Consumer Protection Finance Bureau (CFPB).

The Rural Housing Service (RHS), an agency within Rural Development, announces that it is soliciting competitive applications under its Section 538 Guaranteed Rural Rental Housing Program (GRRHP) pursuant to 7 CFR 3565.4 for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016, Public Law 114-113 (December 18, 2015) appropriated $150 million for FY 2016. The commitment of program dollars will be made first to approved and complete applications from prior years' notices, then to applicants of selected responses in the order they are ranked under this Notice that have fulfilled the necessary requirements for obligation. Successful applications will be selected by the Agency for funding and subsequently awarded to the extent that funding may ultimately be made available to the Agency through appropriations. Expenses incurred in developing applications will be at the applicant's risk. The following paragraphs outline the timeframes, eligibility requirements, lender responsibilities, and the overall response and application processes. Eligible lenders are invited to submit responses for new construction and acquisition with rehabilitation of affordable rural rental housing. The Agency will review responses submitted by eligible lenders, on the lender's letterhead, and signed by both the prospective borrower and lender. Although a complete application is not required in response to this Notice, eligible lenders may submit a complete application concurrently with the response. Submitting a complete application will not have any effect on the respondent's response score.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this Notice announces the Rural Housing Service's (RHS) intention to request an extension for a currently approved information collection in support of the program for the Housing Preservation Grant program.

Rural Development (RD) is correcting an oversight of omitting cross-reference to the Strategic Economic and Community Development priority in the underlying programs when it published the rule for the priority.

The Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Farm Service Agency, Commodity Credit Corporation, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Rural Utilities Service, Rural Business-Cooperative Service and Rural Housing Service finalize their portion of the uniform federal assistance rule and amend specific regulations to reference the conforming changes published by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the Federal Register on December 19, 2014.

This document corrects the closing deadline date that has changed since the initial Notice that appeared in the Federal Register on December 29, 2015, entitled ``Notice of Solicitation of Applications (NOSA) for the 533 Housing Preservation Grants for Fiscal Year 2016''.

The Rural Housing Service (RHS) announces the timeframe to submit pre-applications for Section 514 Farm Labor Housing (FLH) loans and Section 516 FLH grants for the construction of new off-farm FLH units and related facilities for domestic farm laborers and for the purchase and substantial rehabilitation of an existing non-FLH property. The intended purpose of these loans and grants is to increase the number of available housing units for domestic farm laborers. This Notice describes the method used to distribute funds, the application process, and submission requirements. RHS will publish on its Web site, https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs- services/farm-labor-housing-direct-loans-grants, the amount of funding available in FY 2016 based on current appropriations. The Agency will assign additional points to pre-applications for projects based in or serving census tracts with poverty rates greater than or equal to 20 percent over the last 30 years. This emphasis will support Rural Development's mission of improving the quality of life for rural Americans and commitment to directing resources to those who most need them.

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 found in 7 CFR part 1944, subpart N, which requires the Agency to announce the opening and closing dates for receipt of pre-applications for HPG funds from eligible applicants.

The Rural Housing Service (RHS or Agency) proposes to amend the current regulation for the Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program (SFHGLP) on the subject of liquidation value appraisals. In order to reduce overall processing time, reduce cost, and expedite claim submission, lenders will order the liquidation value appraisal used to estimate a loss claim against the SFHGLP instead of the Agency. Currently, if a Real Estate Owned (REO) property remains unsold by the lender at the end of the permissible marketing period, the Agency will order a liquidation value appraisal and apply an acquisition and management resale factor to estimate holding and disposition cost. This amendment will require the servicing lender to order the liquidation value appraisal. The costs associated with obtaining the liquidation value appraisal can then be included in the liquidation costs paid under the guarantee.

On May 20, 2015, USDA published an interim rule establishing a priority for projects that support the implementation of strategic economic and community development plans across multi-jurisdictional areas. This priority applies to several specific programs with the Rural Business-Cooperative Service, the Rural Housing Service, and the Rural Utilities Service. The effective date was listed as June 19, 2015 and is being delayed to July 17, 2015.

The Rural Housing Service (RHS or Agency) published a final rule on April 29, 2015, in the Federal Register that amended its regulations for the section 502 direct single family housing loan program to create a certified loan application packaging process. The section 502 direct single family housing loan program is authorized in Title V of the Housing Act of 1949. Under the certified loan application packaging process, a certified loan application packager and its qualified employer will submit applications to the Agency via an intermediary (unless the applicable Rural Development State Director approves the certified packager to opt not to go through an intermediary). The intermediary will perform quality assurance reviews on the packaged loan applications as well as provide supplemental training, technical assistance, and support to certified packagers and qualified employers to promote quality standards and accountability. Through this notice, the Agency will accept applications to be an intermediary under the certified loan application packaging process outlined in 7 CFR 3550.75 and other applicable regulations. Approval will be subject to fully meeting the conditions outlined within this notice and regulations, a recommendation by a review panel consisting of Agency staff at the state and national levels, and approval by the RHS Administrator. Intermediaries operating under the loan application packaging pilot program, which expires on September 30, 2015, are not guaranteed an intermediary role beyond their participation in the pilot program and must apply under this application process should they wish to serve as an intermediary under the regulation.

Section 6025 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (2014 Farm Bill) enables the Secretary of Agriculture to provide priority to projects that support Strategic Economic and Community Development plans. This Notice invites applicants who have submitted or will be submitting applications for the programs (referred to as ``underlying programs'') in Fiscal Year 2015. For FY 2015, projects eligible for Section 6025 priority points will compete one time with all other projects eligible for the applicable underlying program's year-end pool of funds. These priority points are not eligible to projects competing for FY 2015 funding prior to the program's year-end pool of funds competition. All applicants are responsible for any additional expenses incurred in preparing and submitting Form RD 1980-88.

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 found in 7 CFR part 1944, subpart N, which requires the Agency to announce the opening and closing dates for receipt of pre-applications for HPG funds from eligible applicants.

The Rural Housing Service (RHS), an agency within the USDA Rural Development mission area herein referred to as the Agency 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 lists the information needed to submit an application for these funds. This Notice contains revised evaluation criteria that are streamlined, in order to enhance program efficiency and delivery.

The Rural Housing Service (RHS or Agency) published a proposed rule on August 23, 2013, to amend its regulations for the section 502 direct single family housing loan program to create a certified loan application packaging process. Through this action, revisions are being made to the rule based on an evaluation of the public comments received as well as the results of the pilot program RHS began in 2010 to test changes to the loan application packaging process. This final rule will impose reasonable experience, training, structure, and performance requirements on eligible service providers; and it will regulate the packaging fee permitted under the process. By establishing a vast network of competent, experienced, and committed Agency-certified packagers, this action is intended to benefit low- and very low-income people who wish to achieve homeownership in rural areas by increasing their awareness of the Agency's housing program, increasing specialized support available to them to complete the application for assistance, and improving the quality of loan application packages submitted on their behalf.

This document corrects technical errors in the direct final rule that appeared in the Federal Register on February 24, 2015, entitled ``Rural Development RegulationsUpdate to FmHA References and to Census Regulations.''

This Interim Final Rule is needed to ensure that the Agency will have a regulation in place to meet the Congressional mandate established in Congress in the Agricultural Act of 2014 (2014 Farm Bill). This mandate requires the Agency to establish a new program called the Rural Business Development Grant Program which combines the former Rural Business Enterprise Grant and Rural Business Opportunity Grant programs. The Agency has made no substantive changes to either the Rural Business Enterprise Grant or Rural Business Opportunity Grant programs when combining these regulations into the Rural Business Development Grant program. Rural Development, Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS) is establishing a new regulation for the Rural Business Development Grant (RBDG) program. The program was established by the 2014 Farm Bill. The RBDG Program will combine the Rural Business Enterprise Grant (RBEG) and the Rural Business Opportunity Grant (RBOG) programs. There are no substantive programmatic changes to RBEG and RBOG with this consolidation.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in fiscal year (FY) 2006 established the demonstration Rural Development Voucher Program (RDVP), as authorized under Section 542 of the Housing Act of 1949 as amended (42 U.S.C. 1490R) (without regard to Section 542(b)). This Notice informs the public of the general policies and procedures for the RDVP for FY 2015. Rural Development Vouchers are only available to low-income tenants of Rural Development (RD)-financed multi-family properties where the Rural Rental Housing loan (Section 515) has been prepaid (either through prepayment or foreclosure action), prior to the loan's maturity date.

Rural Development (RD) is amending its regulations by updating references to the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) and clarifying and updating references to the census data. These actions will provide consistency in terminology between program regulations. In addition, clarifying and updating references to census data is needed to account for changes to the decennial Census, which, starting with the 2010 decennial Census is no longer reporting income and unemployment data. Additional revisions are being implemented to show the regulations that do not apply to the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and to remove outdated or unnecessary language.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Rural Housing Service (RHS), intention to request an extension for a currently approved information collection in support of compliance with Civil Rights laws.

As part of the implementation of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (commonly referred to as the 2014 Farm Bill), USDA Rural Development is hosting a listening session to receive public input about ways USDA can help community colleges form partnerships and get funding for local economic development. The 2014 Farm Bill directs USDA to work with community and technical colleges on a strategy to help them better serve the needs of local rural communities. The listening session will provide an opportunity for stakeholders to voice their comments, concerns or requests regarding this strategy. Instructions to register for and attend the listening session are in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice.

USDA Rural Development, which administers the programs of the Rural Housing Service (Agency), announces the availability of $20 million in budget authority and the timeframe to submit applications to participate in a demonstration program to preserve and revitalize existing Rural Rental Housing (RRH) projects under Section 515, Section 514, and Section 516 of the Housing Act of 1949, as amended. Under the demonstration program, existing Section 515 Multi-Family Housing (MFH) loans and Sections 514/516 Off-Farm Labor Housing (FLH) loans will be restructured to ensure that sufficient resources are available to preserve the ability of rental projects to provide safe and affordable housing for very low-, low-, or moderate-income residents. Projects participating in this program will be expected to be revitalized to extend their affordable use without displacing tenants because of increased rents. No additional Agency Rental Assistance (RA) units will be made available under this program.

Rural Development (RD) is amending the regulations so that an obligation date for all guaranteed loans, direct loans, and grants will no longer be 6 working days from the date of request for reservation of authority. This action is necessary as the 6-day reservation period will be permanently removed from the Commercial Loan Servicing System (CLSS), Guaranteed Loan System (GLS), and Program Loan Accounting System (PLAS). The effect of this action will reduce system or manual intervention when legislative mandates direct cutoff for obligations and/or funding; eliminate program waivers on obligation date; increase consistency with other RD programs; reduce risks with new system implementations, such as the Financial Modernization Management Initiative; and eliminate numerous reconciliation issues between processed obligations and actual obligations for internal RD reports and USDA reporting requirements.