Congress Restores Funding for Rural Housing

Last week Congress finally passed legislation to restore funding to the 502 single-family rural housing program. NAR reports that it had been pushing this bill, and thousands of REALTORS® had responded to Calls-for -Action to get this done! Senator Michael Bennet (CO) and Reps. Kanjorski (PA) and Capito (WV) championed this issue, that has been working its way through Congress March. The legislation will increase the guarantee fee for borrowers (but still allow it to be financed), which will make the program self-sufficient. The legislation also increases the commitment authority so Rural Housing Service can formally guarantee loans (they had been providing conditional commitments). We anticipate a notice from Rural Housing shortly after the President signs the bill.