I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5373 

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

areas for low-income households. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 11, 2006 

Mr. HINOJOSA (for himself and Mr. RAHALL) 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 2006’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

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

9 housing in the United States for families and senior 


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1 citizens in rural areas, as evidenced by the fact 

2 that— 

3 (A) 28 percent, or 10,400,000, of rural 

4 households in the United States live with some 

5 kind of serious housing problem; and 

6 (B) an estimated 2,600,000 rural house7 holds live in substandard housing with severe 

8 structural damage or without indoor plumbing, 

9 heat, or electricity. 

10 (2) There is an acute shortage of affordable 

11 rental housing exists in the rural United States, as 

12 evidenced by the fact that— 

13 (A) two-thirds of extremely low-income and 

14 very low-income rural households do not have 

15 access to affordable rental housing units; 

16 (B) 36 percent of all rural renters pay 

17 more than 30 percent of their income for hous18 ing, and 20 percent pay more than 50 percent 

19 of their income for housing; and 

20 (C) 92 percent of all renters with signifi21 cant housing problems pay more than 50 per22 cent of their income for housing costs, and 60 

23 percent pay more than 70 percent of their in24 come for housing. 


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1 (3) Many rural renters live with serious housing 

2 problems, including a lack of basic water and waste3 water services, structural insufficiencies, and over4 crowding, as evidenced by the fact that— 

5 (A) more than 900,000 rural rental house6 holds (10.4 percent of all such households) live 

7 in either moderately or severely inadequate 

8 housing; and 

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

10 have multiple housing problems. 

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, because— 


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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 77 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. 


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1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

2 For purposes of this Act, the following definitions 

3 shall apply: 

4 (1) ELIGIBLE PROJECT.—The term ‘‘eligible 

5 project’’ means a project for the acquisition, reha6 bilitation, or construction of rental housing and re7 lated facilities in an eligible rural area for occupancy 

8 by low-income families. 

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

10 rural area’’ means a rural area that— 

11 (A) has a population of not more than 

12 25,000, as determined by the most recent de13 cennial census of the United States; and 

14 (B) is located outside an urbanized area. 

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

16 sponsor’’ means— 

17 (A) a public agency; 

18 (B) an Indian tribe; 

19 (C) a for-profit corporation; or 

20 (D) a private nonprofit corporation— 

21 (i) a purpose of which is planning, de22 veloping, or managing housing or commu23 nity development projects in rural areas; 

24 (ii) that has a record of accomplish25 ment in housing or community develop26 ment; and 


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1 (iii) that meets other criteria estab2 lished by the Secretary by regulation. 

3 (4) LOW-INCOME FAMILIES.—The term ‘‘low-in4 come families’’ has the meaning given such term in 

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

6 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)). 

7 (5) QUALIFIED INTERMEDIARY.—The term 

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

9 agency designated by the Governor of the State, a 

10 public instrumentality of the State, a private non11 profit community development corporation, a non12 profit housing corporation, a community develop13 ment loan fund, or a community development credit 

14 union, that— 

15 (A) has a record of providing technical and 

16 financial assistance for housing and community 

17 development activities in rural areas; and 

18 (B) has a demonstrated technical and fi19 nancial capacity to administer assistance made 

20 available under this Act. 

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

22 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

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

24 the several States of the United States, the Com25 monwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, 


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1 the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is2 lands, Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, 

3 and any other possession of the United States. 

4 SEC. 4. RURAL RENTAL HOUSING ASSISTANCE. 

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

6 through one or more qualified intermediaries in accord7 ance with section 5, make assistance available under this 

8 Act to eligible sponsors in the form of loans, grants, inter9 est subsidies, annuities, and other forms of financing as10 sistance, to finance the eligible projects. 

11 (b) APPLICATIONS.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive as13 sistance under this section, an eligible sponsor shall 

14 submit to the Secretary, or a qualified intermediary, 

15 an application in such form and containing such in16 formation as the Secretary shall, by regulation, re17 quire. 

18 (2) AFFORDABILITY RESTRICTION.—Each ap19 plication under this subsection shall include a certifi20 cation by the applicant that the housing to be ac21 quired, rehabilitated, or constructed with assistance 

22 under this section will remain affordable for low-in23 come families for not less than 30 years. 

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

25 applicants for assistance under this section, the Secretary, 


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1 or a qualified intermediary, shall give priority to providing 

2 assistance to eligible projects— 

3 (1) for very low-income families (as such term 

4 is defined in section 3(b) of the United States Hous5 ing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)); 

6 (2) in low-income communities or in commu7 nities with a severe lack of affordable rental housing, 

8 in eligible rural areas, as determined by the Sec9 retary; or 

10 (3) if the applications are submitted by public 

11 agencies, Indian tribes, private nonprofit corpora12 tions or limited dividend corporations in which the 

13 general partner is a non-profit entity whose principal 

14 purposes include planning, developing and managing 

15 low-income housing and community development 

16 projects. 

17 (d) ALLOCATION OF ASSISTANCE.— 

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

19 the Secretary shall allocate assistance among the 

20 States taking into consideration the incidence of 

21 rural substandard housing and rural poverty in each 

22 State and the share of that State of the national 

23 total of such incidence. 

24 (2) SMALL STATE MINIMUM.—To the extent 

25 sufficient amounts are made available for assistance 


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1 under this Act, in making allocations under para2 graph (1), the Secretary shall provide each State an 

3 amount not less than $2,000,000. 

4 (e) LIMITATIONS ON AMOUNT OF ASSISTANCE.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para6 graph (2), assistance made available under this Act 

7 for an eligible project may not exceed 50 percent of 

8 the total cost of such project. 

9 (2) EXCEPTION.—In the case of any eligible 

10 project for the acquisition, rehabilitation, or con11 struction of not more than 20 rental housing units 

12 for use by very low-income families, assistance made 

13 available under this Act may not exceed 75 percent 

14 of the total cost of such project. 

15 SEC. 5. DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may delegate au17 thority for distribution, in a State, of assistance under this 

18 Act— 

19 (1) to one or more qualified intermediaries in 

20 the State; and 

21 (2) for a period of not more than 3 years, upon 

22 the expiration of which such delegation of authority 

23 shall be subject to renewal, in the discretion of the 

24 Secretary, for one or more additional periods of not 

25 more than 3 years. 


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1 (b) SOLICITATION.— 

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

3 discretion of the Secretary, solicit applications from 

4 qualified intermediaries for a delegation of authority 

5 under this section. 

6 (2) CONTENTS OF APPLICATION.—Each appli7 cation under this subsection shall include— 

8 (A) a certification that the applicant will— 

9 (i) provide matching funds from 

10 sources other than this Act in an amount 

11 that is not less than the amount of assist12 ance provided to the applicant under this 

13 section; and 

14 (ii) distribute assistance to eligible 

15 sponsors in the State in accordance with 

16 section 4; and 

17 (B) a description of— 

18 (i) the State or the area within a 

19 State to be served; 

20 (ii) the incidence of poverty and sub21 standard housing in the State or area to 

22 be served; 

23 (iii) the technical and financial quali24 fications of the applicant; and 


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1 (iv) the assistance sought and a pro2 posed plan for the distribution of such as3 sistance in accordance with section 4. 

4 (3) MULTISTATE APPLICATIONS.—The Sec5 retary may, in the discretion of the Secretary, seek 

6 application by qualified intermediaries for more than 

7 one State. 

8 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

9 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

10 this Act $250,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2007 

11 through 2011. 

Æ 


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