United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2002-05-10 monographic deposited born digital GA 1.13:GAO-02-397 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-397 P0b002ee1803980ed f:d02397 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-397 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-397 GAO-02-397 Federal aid for housing Housing programs Low income housing Rural housing programs Subsidies Direct loans RHS Section 515 Program Other Written Product A03252

Nearly 450,000 elderly and other households depend on federal assistance to live in multifamily rural rental properties that were constructed with subsidized federal loans. Because the properties were built in areas when and where privately financed housing units, affordable by lower income households, were not considered economically feasible, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA)Rural Housing Service (RHS) has made direct loans available to developers of affordable multifamily housing under its section 515 program. RHS has funded many more new properties than the portfolio has lost through prepayment. The number of new properties added to the portfolio exceeded the number that left the program after prepayment in every year except 2001. If the statutory requirement restricting prepayment for loans made before December 15, 1989, were changed to allow prepayment without restrictions after 20 years from the date of the loan, prepayment could be an option for the owners of 3,900 of all section 515 properties over the next eight years. RHS field staff routinely inspect properties, complete and retain detailed descriptions of noted deficiencies, and transmit the summaries of the deficiencies identified to a central database. Only current deficiencies are identified, however, so the data is of only limited value for determining the cost of the long term rehabilitation needs of individual properties. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-397/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-397.htm GAO-02-397 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-397 Other Written Product GAO-02-397; Multifamily Rural Housing: Prepayment Potential and Long-Term Rehabilitation Needs for Section 515 Properties; Federal aid for housing Housing programs Low income housing Rural housing programs Subsidies Direct loans RHS Section 515 Program Title 42 Section 1485 42 U.S.C. 1485 Public Law 106-74