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Rural Housing: Options for Optimizing the Federal Role in Rural Housing Development

RCED-00-241 Published: Sep 15, 2000. Publicly Released: Oct 16, 2000.
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Highlights

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on rural housing programs, focusing on: (1) the physical condition of today's rural housing and rural households' access to affordable housing credit; (2) the rural housing programs offered by the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Rural Housing Service (RHS) and the ways in which RHS' programs have adapted to changes in the level of federal housing assistance; (3) any overlap between RHS' programs and the programs of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and other federal, state, and private organizations; and (4) options for maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal role in rural housing.

Recommendations

Matter for Congressional Consideration

Matter Status Comments
To optimize the federal role in rural housing, Congress may wish to consider requiring USDA and HUD to examine the benefits and costs of merging those programs that serve similar markets and provide similar products. As a first step, Congress could consider requiring RHS and HUD to explore merging their single-family insured lending programs and multifamily portfolio management programs, taking advantage of the best practices of each and ensuring that targeted populations are not adversely affected.
Closed – Implemented
To date, Congress has not acted on this matter. The subcommittee held an oversight hearing in July 2003. GAO testified and restated the findings and matter for congressional consideration. No action is expected in the immediate future.

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Topics

Direct loansFederal aid for housingGovernment guaranteed loansHousing constructionHousing repairsLow income housingRedundancyRural economic developmentRural housing programsRural housing