With little, and in some years no, new affordable rural housing properties under construction, preservation has become the mission for the USDA’s Rural Housing Service and the people who work with it and who live in and depend on it. The best option for preserving this portfolio is greater funding for the Rural Development office. However, in the absence of such funding, the key to preservation is finding new and improved ways to accept and accommodate third-party financing sources.
We discuss rural affordable housing preservation issues and strategies in the July 22, 2021 issue of the Journal of Affordable Housing and Community Development Law (PDF).