I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1722

To promote the development of affordable, quality rental housing in rural 

areas for low-income households. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 10, 2003

Mr. HINOJOSA (for himself and Mr. DAVIS of Alabama) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL

To promote the development of affordable, quality rental 

housing in rural areas for low-income households.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rural Rental Housing 

5 Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) There is a pressing and increasing need for 

9 rental housing for rural families and senior citizens, 

10 as evidenced by the fact that—
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1 (A) two-thirds of extremely low-income and 

2 very low-income rural households do not have 

3 access to affordable rental housing units; 

4 (B) more than 900,000 rural rental house5 holds (10.4 percent) live in either severely or 

6 moderately inadequate housing; and 

7 (C) substandard housing is a problem for 

8 547,000 rural renters, and approximately 

9 165,000 rural rental units are overcrowded. 

10 (2) Many rural United States households live 

11 with serious housing problems, including a lack of 

12 basic water and wastewater services, structural 

13 insufficiencies, and overcrowding, as shown by the 

14 fact that—

15 (A) 28 percent, or 10,400,000, rural 

16 households in the United States live with some 

17 kind of serious housing problem; 

18 (B) approximately 1,000,000 rural renters 

19 have multiple housing problems; and 

20 (C) an estimated 2,600,000 rural house21 holds live in substandard housing with severe 

22 structural damage or without indoor plumbing, 

23 heat, or electricity. 

24 (3) In rural America—
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1 (A) one-third of all renters pay more than 

2 30 percent of their income for housing; 

3 (B) 20 percent of rural renters pay more 

4 than 50 percent of their income for housing; 

5 and 

6 (C) 92 percent of all rural renters with sig7 nificant housing problems pay more than 50 

8 percent of their income for housing costs, and 

9 60 percent pay more than 70 percent of their 

10 income for housing. 

11 (4) Rural economies are often less diverse, and 

12 therefore, jobs and economic opportunity are limited 

13 because—

14 (A) factors that exist in rural environ15 ments, such as remoteness and low population 

16 density, lead to limited access to many forces 

17 driving the economy, such as technology, lend18 ing, and investment; and 

19 (B) local expertise is often limited in rural 

20 areas where the economies are focused on farm21 ing or natural resource-based industries. 

22 (5) Rural areas have less access to credit than 

23 metropolitan areas since—
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1 (A) banks and other investors that look for 

2 larger projects with lower risk seek metropoli3 tan areas for loans and investment; 

4 (B) credit that is available is often insuffi5 cient, leading to the need for interim or bridge 

6 financing; and 

7 (C) credit in rural areas is often more ex8 pensive and available at less favorable terms 

9 than in metropolitan areas. 

10 (6) The Federal Government investment in 

11 rural rental housing has dropped during the last 10 

12 years, as evidenced by the fact that—

13 (A) Federal spending for rural rental hous14 ing has been cut by 73 percent since 1994; and 

15 (B) rural rental housing unit production fi16 nanced by the Federal Government has been re17 duced by 88 percent since 1990. 

18 (7) To address the scarcity of rural rental hous19 ing, the Federal Government must work in partner20 ship with State and local governments, private finan21 cial institutions, private philanthropic institutions, 

22 and the private sector, including nonprofit organiza23 tions. 

24 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

25 In this Act: 
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1 (1) ELIGIBLE PROJECT.—The term ‘‘eligible 

2 project’’ means a project for the acquisition, reha3 bilitation, or construction of rental housing and re4 lated facilities in an eligible rural area for occupancy 

5 by low-income families. 

6 (2) ELIGIBLE RURAL AREA.—The term ‘‘eligible 

7 rural area’’ means a rural area with a population of 

8 not more than 25,000, as determined by the most 

9 recent decennial census of the United States, and 

10 that is located outside an urbanized area. 

11 (3) ELIGIBLE SPONSOR.—The term ‘‘eligible 

12 sponsor’’ means a public agency, an Indian tribe, a 

13 for-profit corporation, or a private nonprofit cor14 poration—

15 (A) a purpose of which is planning, devel16 oping, or managing housing or community de17 velopment projects in rural areas; and 

18 (B) that has a record of accomplishment in 

19 housing or community development and meets 

20 other criteria established by the Secretary by 

21 regulation. 

22 (4) LOW-INCOME FAMILIES.—The term ‘‘low-in23 come families’’ has the meaning given the term in

24 section 3(b) of the United States Housing Act of 

25 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)). 
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1 (5) QUALIFIED INTERMEDIARY.—The term 

2 ‘‘qualified intermediary’’ means a State, a State 

3 agency designated by the Governor of the State, a 

4 public instrumentality of the State, a private non5 profit community development corporation, a non6 profit housing corporation, a community develop7 ment loan fund, or a community development credit 

8 union, that—

9 (A) has a record of providing technical and 

10 financial assistance for housing and community 

11 development activities in rural areas; and 

12 (B) has a demonstrated technical and fi13 nancial capacity to administer assistance made 

14 available under this Act. 

15 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

16 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

17 (7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

18 the several States of the United States, the Com19 monwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, 

20 the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is21 lands, Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, 

22 the Trust Territories of the Pacific, and any other 

23 possession of the United States. 
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1 SEC. 4. RURAL RENTAL HOUSING ASSISTANCE. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may, directly or 

3 through 1 or more qualified intermediaries in accordance 

4 with section 5, make assistance available to eligible spon5 sors in the form of loans, grants, interest subsidies, annu6 ities, and other forms of financing assistance, to finance 

7 the eligible projects. 

8 (b) APPLICATIONS.—

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive as10 sistance under this section, an eligible sponsor shall 

11 submit to the Secretary, or a qualified intermediary, 

12 an application in such form and containing such in13 formation as the Secretary shall require by regula14 tion. 

15 (2) AFFORDABILITY RESTRICTION.—Each ap16 plication under this subsection shall include a certifi17 cation by the applicant that the housing to be ac18 quired, rehabilitated, or constructed with assistance 

19 under this section will remain affordable for low-in20 come families for not less than 30 years. 

21 (c) PRIORITY FOR ASSISTANCE.—In selecting among 

22 applicants for assistance under this section, the Secretary, 

23 or a qualified intermediary, shall give priority to providing 

24 assistance to eligible projects—
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1 (1) for very low-income families (as defined in 

2 section 3(b) of the United States Housing Act of 

3 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)); and 

4 (2) in low-income communities or in commu5 nities with a severe lack of affordable rental housing, 

6 in eligible rural areas, as determined by the Sec7 retary; or 

8 (3) if the applications are submitted by public 

9 agencies, Indian tribes, private nonprofit corpora10 tions or limited dividend corporations in which the 

11 general partner is a non-profit entity whose principal 

12 purposes include planning, developing and managing 

13 low-income housing and community development 

14 projects. 

15 (d) ALLOCATION OF ASSISTANCE.—

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out this section, 

17 the Secretary shall allocate assistance among the 

18 States, taking into account the incidence of rural 

19 substandard housing and rural poverty in each State 

20 and the share of that State of the national total of 

21 such incidence. 

22 (2) SMALL STATE MINIMUM.—In making an al23 location under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 

24 provide each state an amount not less than 

25 $2,000,000.
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1 (e) LIMITATIONS ON AMOUNT OF ASSISTANCE.—

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para3 graph (2), assistance made available under this Act 

4 may not exceed 50 percent of the total cost of the 

5 eligible project. 

6 (2) EXCEPTION.—Assistance authorized under 

7 this Act shall not exceed 75 percent of the total cost 

8 of the eligible project, if the project is for the acqui9 sition, rehabilitation, or construction of not more 

10 than 20 rental housing units for use by very low-in11 come families. 

12 SEC. 5. DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may delegate au14 thority for distribution of assistance—

15 (1) to one or more qualified intermediaries in 

16 the State; and 

17 (2) for a period of not more than 3 years, at 

18 which time that delegation of authority shall be sub19 ject to renewal, in the discretion of the Secretary, 

20 for 1 or more additional periods of not more than 

21 3 years. 

22 (b) SOLICITATION.—

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may, in the 

24 discretion of the Secretary, solicit applications from 
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1 qualified intermediaries for a delegation of authority 

2 under this section. 

3 (2) CONTENTS OF APPLICATION.—Each appli4 cation under this subsection shall include— 

5 (A) a certification that the applicant will—

6 (i) provide matching funds from 

7 sources other than this Act in an amount 

8 that is not less than the amount of assist9 ance provided to the applicant under this 

10 section; and 

11 (ii) distribute assistance to eligible 

12 sponsors in the State in accordance with 

13 section 4; and 

14 (B) a description of—

15 (i) the State or the area within a 

16 State to be served; 

17 (ii) the incidence of poverty and sub18 standard housing in the State or area to 

19 be served; 

20 (iii) the technical and financial quali21 fications of the applicant; and 

22 (iv) the assistance sought and a pro23 posed plan for the distribution of such as24 sistance in accordance with section 4. 
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1 (3) MULTISTATE APPLICATIONS.—The Sec2 retary may, in the discretion of the Secretary, seek 

3 application by qualified intermediaries for more than 

4 1 State. 

5 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

6 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

7 this Act $250,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2004 

8 through 2008.

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