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USDA’s Rural Development agency is falling behind on rural housing spending for multifamily homes.
For fiscal 2024 through fiscal 2026, Congress gave the agency more than $157 million to spend, but it spent just $52.6 million, according to the National Rural Housing Coalition. The money provides direct loans to developers, nonprofits or low-income people to build multifamily units and to renew existing contracts in rural communities.
“These are programs that help people,” said Bob Rapoza, a lobbyist for the National Rural Housing Coalition. He noted that USDA obligated more in the most recent fiscal year than in previous years but that it was still lagging.