Rural Housing and Economic Development Improvement Act of 2007
Although Congress has funded RHED since 1999, this bill finally gives the program formal authorization. Such authorization is long overdue, as this competitive grant program has long-since proven its worthiness. According to the Office of Management and Budget, RHED grants have created more than 9,100 jobs and more than 112,000 housing units.
RHED grants are desperately needed to address the growing affordable housing crisis in rural America. While housing costs are lower in rural America, so too are household incomes. As a result, rural America faces a growing affordability concern, particularly among renters. According to the 2005 American Housing Survey, nearly 3.6 million rural households are cost burdened, paying more than 30 percent of their monthly income for housing costs. The Department of Housing and Urban Development's biennial "worst case housing needs" survey reveals that, in 2005, nearly 1 million rural households paid more than half their incomes in housing costs and/or lived in substandard housing--a dramatic 51 percent increase since 2003.
RHED funding is prudently allocated--based on community need measured by poverty and unemployment rates, as well as by other indicators including rates of substandard housing and percentage of households facing affordability problems.
The RHED program also emphasizes specific high needs regions and populations. Over 60 percent of the organizations that have received RHED funds over the program's history serve high needs regions, which include Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta, the Border Colonies, Native American lands, and farm workers.
The RHED program also targets smallest, most isolated rural communities, giving extra weight to applications proposing to serve areas with populations of 2,500 or less. Because of this targeting, the Housing Assistance Council estimates that almost one-third of RHED grants have been allocated to organizations serving the most remote rural counties.
RHED is an especially important housing resource for rural America because of its exclusive focus on rural communities--a unique niche among HUD programs, and one that helps redress the challenges rural communities face in obtaining funding in many other federal housing programs.
For example, only 12 percent of section 8 funds go to non-metropolitan areas and the HOME program has no set-aide for rural communities, with the result that they receive a disproportionately small portion of formula grants. Less than 7 percent of FHA assistance goes to non-metropolitan areas. On a per-capita basis, rural counties fare worse with FHA, getting only $25 per capita versus $264 per capita in metro areas. Only about 10 percent of Veterans Affairs housing programs reach non-metropolitan areas and per capita spending in rural counties is only one-third that of metropolitan areas.
RHED fills such critical gaps left by other Federal housing and community development programs. Its flexible design supports comprehensive community development efforts that address the interconnected housing and economic development needs of rural communities. This targeted resource has enabled rural community organizations across the country to design and implement innovative programs and stabilize their communities. The ongoing need for the RHED programs is clear and I encourage my colleagues to vote for H.R. 1982, the Rural Housing and Economic Development Improvement Act of 2007.
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