Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 246 /Wednesday, December 23, 1998 / Notices 71079

to States pursuant to 7 CFR part 1940,

subpart L, ‘‘Methodology and Formulas

for Allocation of Loan and Grant

Program Funds.’’ Decisions on funding

will be based on the preapplications.

Dated: December 4, 1998.

Jan E. Shadburn,

Administrator, Rural Housing Service.

[FR Doc. 98–33930 Filed 12–22–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–XV–M

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Rural Housing Service

Notice of Availability of Funds; MultiFamily Housing, Single Family

Housing

AGENCY: Rural Housing Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The Rural Housing Service

(RHS) announces the availability of

housing funds for fiscal year 1999 (FY

1999). This action is taken to comply

with 42 U.S.C. 1490p which requires

that RHS publish in the Federal

Register notice of the availability of any

housing assistance.

EFFECTIVE DATE: December 23, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Cynthia L. Reese-Foxworth, Senior Loan

Officer, Multi-Family Housing

Processing Division, Room 1247 (STOP

0781), or Gloria Denson, Senior Loan

Officer, Single Family Housing

Processing Division, Room 2211, (STOP

0783), U.S. Department of Agriculture,

1400 Independence Ave., SW,

Washington, D.C., 20250, telephones

(202) 720–1604, and (202) 720–1474,

respectively. (These are not toll free

numbers).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Programs Affected

The following programs are subject to

the provisions of Executive Order 12372

that requires intergovernmental

consultation with State and local

officials. These programs or activities

are listed in the Catalog of Federal

Domestic Assistance under Nos.

10.405 Farm Labor Housing (LH) Loans and

Grants

10.410 Very Low to Moderate Income

Housing Loans

10.411 Rural Housing Site Loans and SelfHelp Housing Land Development Loans

10.415 Rural Rental Housing Loans

10.417 Very Low Income Housing Repair

Loans and Grants

10.420 Rural Self-Help Housing Technical

Assistance

10.427 Rural Rental Assistance Payments

10.433 Rural Housing Preservation Grants

10.442 Housing Application Packaging

Grants

Discussion of Notice

7 CFR chapter XVIII, part 1940,

subpart L contains the ‘‘Methodology

and Formulas for Allocation of Loan

and Grant Program Funds.’’ The

following guidance has been provided

to our State offices on FY 1999

appropriations and access to funds.

Separate guidance has been provided to

our State offices for assistance available

in our Multi-and Single-Family Housing

Programs as follows:

Multi-Family Housing (MFH)

I. General

A. This provides guidance on MFH

funding for the Rural Rental Housing

Program (RRH) for FY 1999. Allocation

computations have been performed in

accordance with 7 CFR 1940.575 and

1940.578. For FY 1999, State Directors,

under the Rural Housing Assistance

Grants (RHAG), will have the flexibility

to transfer their initial allocations of

budget authority between the Single

Family Housing (SFH) section 504 Rural

Housing Grants and section 533

Housing Preservation Grant (HPG)

programs.

B. MFH loan levels for FY 1999 are as

follows:

MFH Loan Programs Credit

Sales .................................. $3,500,000

Section 514 Farm Labor

Housing (LH) Loans ......... 20,000,000

Section 515 Rural Rental

Housing (RRH) ................. 79,321,240

Section 515 Rural Rental

Housing (RRH)

Rehabilitation or Repair

Loans & Equity Loans 35,000,000

Section 521 New Construction

Rental Assistance (RA) 35,705,890

Section 516 LH Grants

(RHAG) ............................. 13,500,000

Sections 525 Technical

and Supervisory Assistance Grants

(TSA) and 509 Housing

Application Packaging Grants

(HAPG) (Shared between Single and

Multi-Family Housing) ............................. 1,355,054

Section 533 Housing Preservation Grants (HPG)

(RHAG) ............................. 7,000,000

Section 538 Guaranteed

Rural Rental Housing Program* ................................. 74,800,000

*The program has been authorized for FY

1999. Guaranteed loan funds will be made

available under a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) that will be published with a

final rule later this fiscal year. Additional

guidance will be provided at that time.

II. Funds not Allocated to States

A. Credit Sales Authority. For FY

1999, $3,500,000 will be set aside for

credit sales to program and nonprogram

buyers. Credit sale funding will not be

allocated by State.

B. Section 514 Farm LH Loans. 1.

These loans are funded in accordance

with 7 CFR 1940.579(a).

FY 1999 Appropriation ....... $20,000,000

Available for Off-Farm

Loans ................................. 15,500,000

Available for On-Farm

Loans ................................. 1,500,000

National Office Reserve ....... 3,000,000

2. Off-farm loan fundings will be

made available under a NOFA that will

be published with a final rule later this

fiscal year. Additional guidance will be

provided at that time. (A proposed rule

was published at 63 FR 57932 on

October 29, 1998.)

C. Section 516 Farm LH Grants. 1.

Grants are funded in accordance with 7

CFR 1940.579(b). Unobligated prior year

balances and cancellations will be

added to the amount shown.

FY 1999 Appropriation ....... $13,500,000

Available for LH Grants ...... 9,150,000

Available for Technical Assistance Contracts ............ 1,350,000

National Office Reserve ....... 3,000,000

2. Labor Housing grant funds for offfarm will be made available under a

NOFA that will be published with a

final rule later this fiscal year.

Additional guidance will be provided at

that time. (A Proposed Rule was

published on October 29, 1998.)

D. Rental Assistance for LH. Labor

Housing RA will be held in the National

office for use with LH loan and grant

applications. RA is only available with

an LH loan of at least 5 percent of the

total development cost. Projects without

a LH loan cannot receive RA.

III. Section 515 RRH Loan Funds

A. Section 515 RRH Loan Funds (for

New Construction Loans): New

construction loan funds will be made

available via a National NOFA using the

following parameters:

1. No one State may receive more than

$2.5 million under the NOFA. Reserve

funds are not considered NOFA funds

and therefore, will not be counted

toward the $2.5 million State cap.

2. No single loan request may exceed

$1 million. The Administrator may

waive this limit in cases where a State’s

average total development costs exceed

the National average by 50 percent or

more. States may set a lower loan

amount.

3. The amount of RA available will be

impacted by the amount of leveraging in
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applications selected. If no (or

insufficient) rental assistance is

available, the next ranked request that

does not need rental assistance (or falls

within the available amount) will be

selected.

4. States will continue to score and

rank requests by point score in

accordance with § 1944.231 of RD

Instruction 1944–E. This fiscal year’s

NOFA will include a National office

selection criteria. In States with an ongoing formal working relationship,

agreement, or memorandum of

understanding (MOU) with the State to

provide State funds, State RA, HOME

funds, Community Development Block

Grant (CDBG) funds, or Low Income

Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) for RHS

proposals, points will be provided to

loan requests that include such funds or

RA. No State selection criteria will be

used this fiscal year.

5. States will submit a list, in rank

order, showing the name of the

applicant; location of the project (City &

State); if it is located in an

Empowerment Zone (EZ) or Enterprise

Community (EC), Tribal Land, or

Colonia; amount of leveraging; RHS loan

amount; point score; number of new

construction RA units needed; total

project units; number of tax credit units,

and other information requested in this

NOFA, to the National office. Requests

that are eligible for the Nonprofit SetAside must be so indicated. Include

requests for the Underserved Counties

and Colonias Set-Aside and indicate if

they are also eligible for regular section

515 funds, i.e., are located in a

designated place.

6. The National office will rank the

States’ requests by point score,

Nationwide, using the same tie breaker

criteria established in § 1944.231 of RD

Instruction 1944–E.

7. Funds will be distributed to the

States for loan requests in rank order, up

to a maximum of $2.5 million for any

one State.

B. Amount available for new

construction loans is as follows:

Total Available .................... $79,321,240

Less Set-Aside for Nonprofits ................................ 7,138,912

Less Set-Aside for Underserved Counties and

Colonias ............................ 3,966,062

Less Set-Aside for EZ or EC

communities ..................... 7,253,866

Less General Reserve ........... 5,740,000

Less State RA Designated

Reserve .............................. 1,500,000

NOFA Balance ..................... 53,722,380

1. National Office Reserves. These

reserves are broken down as follows:

General Reserve ................... $5,740,000

Designated Reserves: State

RA ..................................... 1,500,000

Total National Office Reserve .................................. 7,240,000

2. National Office Set-asides. The

following legislatively mandated setasides of funds are part of the National

office set-aside:

Nonprofit Set-Aside ............. $7,560,000

Underserved Counties and

Colonias ............................ 4,200,000

EZ or EC Communities ........ 7,250,000

3. Rental Assistance (RA). New

construction RA will be held in the

National office for use with section 515

Rural Rental Housing loans.

IV. State Allocations for Rehabilitation

or Repair Loans

A. Repairs and Rehabilitation. Tenant

health and safety continues to be a

priority. Repair and rehabilitation funds

must be first targeted to RRH facilities

that have physical conditions that effect

the health and safety of tenants and then

made available to facilities that have

deferred maintenance.

B. Section 515 RRH Loan Funds (for

Repairs and Rehabilitation). All funds

will be held in the National office and

will be distributed based upon indicated

rehabilitation needs in the MFH Survey

conducted in September 1998. The

amount available for rehabilitation or

repair loans is as follows:

Rehab and Repair Appropriation ............................. $35,000,000

Designated Equity Reserve .. 5,000,000

Total Available for Rehabilitation or repair loans ....... 30,000,000

V. Section 533 Housing Preservation

Grants (HPG)

Amount available for allocation. See

end of this Notice for HPG State

allocations.

Total Available .................... $7,000,000

Less General Reserve ........... 700,000

Less Designated Set-Aside

for EZ or EC ...................... 1,200,000

Total Available for Distribution .................................... 5,100,000

Single Family Housing (SFH)

I. General

A. This notice provides SFH

allocations for FY 1999. Allocation

computations have been made in

accordance with 7 CFR 1940.563

through 1940.568. Information on basic

formula criteria, data source and weight,

administrative allocation, pooling of

funds, and availability of the allocation

are located on a chart at the end of this

notice.

B. The SFH levels authorized for FY

1999 are as follows:

Section 502 Guaranteed Rural Housing (RH) Loans

Nonsubsidized Guarantees .................................................................................................................................................... $3,000,000,000

Section 502 Direct RH Loans

Very Low-Income Subsidized Loans .................................................................................................................................... 424,738,000

Low-Income Subsidized Loans ............................................................................................................................................. 540,575,000

Nonsubsidized Loans ............................................................................................................................................................ 0

Credit Sales (Program and Non Program) ................................................................................................................................... 19,968,000

Section 504 Housing Repair Loans ........................................................................................................................................... 25,001,000

Section 504 Housing Repair Grants .......................................................................................................................................... 20,000,000

Section 509 Compensation for Construction Defects (RHAG) ................................................................................................. 1,433,237

Section 523 Mutual and Self-Help Technical Assistance and Grants 26,000,000

Section 523 Self-Help Site Loans .............................................................................................................................................. 5,000,000

Section 524 RH Site Loans ........................................................................................................................................................ 5,151,510

Section 306C Water and Waste Disposal (WWD) Grants ......................................................................................................... 1,604,800

Sections 525 Technical and Supervisory Assistance Grants ................................................................................................... 1,355,054

(TSA) and 509 Housing Application Packaging Grants

(HAPG) (Shared between Single and Multi-Family Housing)

C. SFH funding not allocated to States

are:

1. Credit Sale Authority. The

distribution of available credit sale

authority is outlined on a chart at the

end of this notice. States will use loan

funds to finance program Real Estate

Owned (REO) sales to program

applicants when all credit sale authority

is exhausted.

2. Section 509 Compensation for

Construction Defects. All claims for
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compensation for construction defects

must be submitted to the National office

for authorization of funds prior to

approval.

3. Section 523 Mutual and Self-Help

Technical Assistance Grants. $26

million has been appropriated for

section 523 Mutual and Self-Help

Technical Assistance Grants. Of these

funds, $1 million is earmarked for EZ or

EC communities. In order to receive

earmark funds, at least 50 percent of the

total homes to be constructed must be

located in the EZ or EC community. The

State Director must request funding

approval from the National office for all

requests. A technical review and

analysis must be completed by the

Technical and Management Assistance

(T&MA) contractor on all

predevelopment, new, and existing

(refunding) grant applications.

4. Section 523 Mutual and Self-Help

Site Loans and Section 524 RH Site

Loans. The State Director must request

funding authority from the National

office prior to obligating loan funds.

5. Section 306C WWD Grants to

Individuals in Colonias. The objective of

the section 306C WWD individual grant

program is to facilitate the use of

community water or waste disposal

systems for the residents of the colonias

along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The cumulative amount available to

Arizona, California, New Mexico, and

Texas will be $1,604,800 for FY 1999.

This amount includes the carryover

unobligated balance of $104,800 and the

transferred amount of $1.5 million from

the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) to RHS

for processing individual grant

applications. The above States will have

access to the equal quarterly allocation

distributions.

6. Section 525 Technical and

Supervisory Assistance (TSA) and

section 509 Housing Application

Packaging Grants (HAPG). $500,000 of

new funds and $855,054 of carry-over

funds from previous years remain

available for the TSA and HAPG

programs. State Directors should submit

proposals from potential applicants to

the National office for review and

concurrence prior to authorizing an

application. The 29 eligible States under

HAPG that have active grantees

operating will be able to access up to

$17,500 for section 502 or 504 loan and

grant programs in order to continue

operations. Reserve requests will be

considered on a first-come, first-served

basis.

7. Deferred Mortgage Payment

Demonstration. There is no FY 1999

funding provided for deferred mortgage

authority or loans for deferred mortgage

assumptions.

8. Section 502 direct nonsubsidized

funds (loan making and servicing).

There were no FY 1999 funds

appropriated for loans for

nonsubsidized loan making or servicing.

II. State Allocations

A. Section 502 Nonsubsidized

Guaranteed RH (GRH) Loans.

1. Amount Available for Allocation.

Total Available .............................................................................................................................................................................. $3,000,000,000

Less National Office General Reserve .................................................................................................................................. 640,000,000

Less Special Outreach Area Reserve .................................................................................................................................... 160,000,000

Basic Formula—Administrative Allocation .................................................................................................................. 2,200,000,000

2. National Office General Reserve.

The Administrator may restrict access to

this reserve for States not meeting their

goals in Special Outreach Areas.

3. Reservation of Funds. Because it is

anticipated that demand will exceed

available funds, States must use the

reservation of funds system per

§ 1980.351 of RD Instruction 1980–D.

4. Special Outreach Areas. FY 99

GRH funding is allocated to States in

two funding streams (80/20) similar to

the 60/40 income split for direct SFH

funds. Eighty percent of GRH funds may

be used in any eligible area. Twenty

percent of GRH funds are to be used

Special Outreach Areas. Special

Outreach Areas are counties with

median incomes at or below the State’s

nonmetropolitan median income. Each

funding stream will independently be

subject to pooling. If needed, Special

Outreach Area funds may be pooled

nationwide on July 16, 1998 and made

available to other Special Outreach

Areas in the Nation.

5. National Office Special Area

Outreach Reserve. A special outreach

area reserve fund has been established

at the National Office. Funds from this

reserve may only be used in special

outreach areas.

6. Suballocation by the State Director.

The State Director may retain funds at

the State Office level or suballocate to

the Area or Field Office level.

B. Section 502 Direct RH loans.

1. Amount Available for Allocation.

Total Available .............................................................................................................................................................................. $965,313,000

Less Required Set Aside for Underserved Counties and Colonias ..................................................................................... 48,266,000

EZ and EC Earmark ........................................................................................................................................................ 45,516,000

Less General Reserve ............................................................................................................................................................. 63,500,000

Administrator’s Reserve ................................................................................................................................................. 30,000,000

Hardships & Homelessness ............................................................................................................................................ 3,500,000

Homeownership Partnership ......................................................................................................................................... 25,000,000

Rural Housing Demonstration Program ........................................................................................................................ 5,000,000

Less Designated Reserve for Self-Help ........................................................................................................................................ 150,000,000

Basic Formula Administrative Allocation .................................................................................................................................. 658,031,000

2. Reserves.

a. State office Reserve. State Directors

must maintain an adequate reserve to

fund the following applications:

(i) Hardship and homeless applicants

based upon historical data and projected

demand. This shall include the direct

section 502 Loan and section 504 Loan

and Grant Programs.

(ii) The State’s 25 percent portion of

funds for Mutual Self-Help loans.

(iii) Subsequent loans for essential

improvements or repairs and transfers

with assumptions.

(iv) Financing for the purchase of

program REO’s when credit sale

authority has been exhausted.

(v) State Directors must ensure that

not less than 25 percent of the initial

low-income allocation and 5 percent of

the initial very low allocation are

utilized for participation in leveraging

section 502 direct loan funds.

(vi) Areas targeted by the State.

b. National office Reserves.

(i) General reserve. The National

office has a general reserve of $63.5

million. Of this amount, the

Administrator’s reserve is $30 million.
71082 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 246 /Wednesday, December 23, 1998 / Notices

One of the purposes of the

Administrator’s reserve will be for loans

in Indian Country. Indian Country is

defined as land inside the boundaries of

Indian reservations, communities made

up mainly of Native Americans, Indian

trust and restricted land, and tribal

allotted lands. The remaining reserves

will be distributed as follows:

(ii) Hardship and Homelessness

Reserve. $3.5 million has been set aside

for Hardships & Homelessness.

(iii) Homeownership Partnership. $25

million has been set aside for

Homeownership Partnerships. These

funds will be used to expand existing

partnerships and create new

partnerships, such as the following:

(A) Department of the Treasury,

Community Development Financial

Institutions (CDFI)—Funds will be

available to fund leveraged loans made

in partnership with the Department of

the Treasury CDFI participants.

(B) Rural Home Loan Partnership

(RHLP). Partnership initiatives

established to carry out the objectives of

the National Partners in

Homeownership including the RHLP

and other strategies or initiatives.

(iv) Rural Housing Demonstration

Program. $5 million has been set aside

for innovative demonstration initiatives.

c. Designated reserve for Self-Help.

$150 million has been set aside for

matching funds to assist participating

Self-Help applicants. The matching

funds were established on the basis of

the National office contributing 75

percent from the National office reserve

and States contributing 25 percent of

their allocated section 502 RH funds.

d. Underserved counties and colonias.

$48,266,000 has been set aside for the

100 underserved counties and colonias.

e. Empowerment Zone (EZ) and

Enterprise Community (EC) Earmark.

These funds are earmarked for loans in

EZs and ECs only. Further information

will follow.

f. Reserve requests. All National office

reserve requests should be submitted by

the State Director to the National office

on a case-by-case basis.

g. State office Pooling. If pooling is

conducted within a State, it must not

take place within the first 30 calendar

days of the first, second, or third

quarter. (There are no restrictions on

pooling in the fourth quarter.)

h. Suballocation by the State Director.

The State Director may suballocate to

each area office using the methodology

and formulas required by 7 CFR Part

1940, Subpart L. If suballocated to the

area level, the Rural Development

Manager will make funds available on a

first-come, first-served basis to all

offices at the field or area level. No field

office will have its access to funds

restricted without the prior written

approval of the Administrator.

C. Section 504 Housing Loans and

Grants. Section 504 Grant funds are

included in the Rural Housing

Assistance Grant Program (RHAG) in the

FY 1999 Appropriation. Funds included

in RHAG may be transferred in

accordance with Part I of this notice.

1. Amount available for allocation.

Section 504 Loans

Total Available ............................................................................................................................................................................ $25,001,000

Less 5% for 100 Underserved Counties and Colonias ....................................................................................................... 1,250,000

EZ and EC Earmark .............................................................................................................................................................. 4,258,000

Less General Reserve ............................................................................................................................................................ 2,500,000

Basic Formula—Administrative Allocation ............................................................................................................................... 16,993,000

Section 504 Grants

Total Available ............................................................................................................................................................................ 20,000,000

Less 5% for 100 Underserved Counties and Colonias ....................................................................................................... 1,000,000

Less General Reserve ............................................................................................................................................................ 2,500,000

Basic Formula—Administrative Allocation ............................................................................................................................... 16,500,000

2. Reserves and Set-asides.

a. State Office Reserve. State Directors

must maintain an adequate reserve to

handle all anticipated hardship

applicants based upon historical data

and projected demand.

b. Underserved Counties and

Colonias. $1,250,000 and $1,000,000,

respectively, have been set aside for the

100 underserved counties and colonias

for the section 504 loan and grant

programs.

c. Empowerment Zone (EZ) and

Enterprise Community (EC) Earmark

(Loan funds only). These funds are

earmarked for EZs and ECs only.

d. National Office Reserve. $2.5

million for section 504 loan hardships

and $2.5 million for section 504 grant

extreme hardships have been set-aside

in the General Reserve. For section 504

grants, an extreme hardship case is one

requiring a significant priority in

funding, ahead of other requests, due to

severe health or safety hazards, or

physical needs of the applicant.

Information on basic formula criteria,

data source and weight, administrative

allocation, pooling of funds, and

availability of the allocation.

No. Description Section 502 nonsubsidized

guaranteed RH loans

Section 502 direct RH

loans

Section 504 loans and

grants

1 ............. Basic formula criteria, data source, and

weight.

See 7 CFR 1940.563(b) ..... See 7 CFR 1940.565(b) ..... See 7 CFR 1940.566(b)

and 1940.567(b).

2 ............. Administrative allocation

Western Pacific Area ................................. $1,000,000 ......................... $1,100,000 ......................... $2,400,000 Loan

$ 560,000 Grant.

3 ............. Pooling of funds

a. Mid year pooling .................................... If Necessary ....................... None Anticipated ................ None Anticipated.

b. Year-end pooling ................................... July 16, 1999 ..................... August 13, 1999 ................. August 13, 1999.

c. Underserved Counties and Colonias .... N/A ..................................... June 30, 1999 .................... June 30, 1999.

d. EZ & EC ................................................ N/A ..................................... June 30, 1999 .................... June 30, 1999.

e. Credit Sales ........................................... N/A ..................................... June 30, 1999 .................... N/A.

4 ............. Availability of the allocation

a. first quarter ............................................ 50 percent .......................... 50 percent .......................... 50 percent.

b. second quarter ...................................... 75 percent .......................... 70 percent .......................... 70 percent.

c. third quarter ........................................... 100 percent ........................ 90 percent .......................... 90 percent.

d. fourth quarter ......................................... N/A ..................................... 100 percent ........................ 100 percent.
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 246 /Wednesday, December 23, 1998 / Notices 71083

1. Data derived from the 1990 U.S.

Census was provided to each State by

the National office on August 12, 1993.

2. Due to the absence of Census Data.

3. All dates are tentative and are as of

close of business (COB). Pooled funds

will be placed in the National office

reserve and made available

administratively.

4. Funds will be distributed

cumulatively through each quarter

listed until the National office year-end

pooling date.

Dated: December 11, 1998.

Jan E. Shadburn,

Administrator, Rural Housing Service.

BILLING CODE 3410–XV–U
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