Reps. Geoff Davis and Lincoln Davis Reintroduce Rural Housing Preservation Act
Announcement Comes on the Heels of National Rural Housing Coalition Endorsement
Washington,
Jun 19 -
Washington, D.C. — In response to the growing need for affordable housing in rural America, Congressman Geoff Davis (R-KY) and Congressman Lincoln Davis (D-TN) have announced the reintroduction of their Rural Housing Preservation Act. The National Rural Housing Coalition quickly endorsed the legislation, and sixteen original co-sponsors have already joined the bill.
The Rural Housing Preservation Act (H.R. 2876) establishes a new Section 544 preservation program to provide financial incentives such as loan forgiveness, payment deferrals, re-amortizations, grants, loans, and loan guarantees to owners of eligible projects. Rehabilitating these properties now will preserve them as affordable Section 515 properties for years to come, protecting families and reducing the need for additional and more expensive construction in the future. In return for this assistance, an owner must agree to stay in the program and continue to provide affordable rental units to the community for at least thirty years.
Congressman Geoff Davis stated, “Rural affordable housing is a critical issue in communities in Kentucky’s Fourth District and across the country. Over the years, I have seen firsthand the dilapidated state of many of the properties in the rural rental housing program. I am pleased to join Congressman Lincoln Davis to work together on this important bipartisan legislation to ensure the Section 515 program is sustainable and can continue to provide affordable and safe housing for our constituents.”
“With more Americans facing foreclosure across the country, the need for rental housing that is low-cost and high-quality will only increase,” said Congressman Lincoln Davis, who sits on the House Appropriations Sub-Committee that oversees funding for these types of housing programs. “Families in rural areas like the ones I represent are often hit hardest, and with fewer resources at their disposal. This is something I intend to fix.”
Nearly five million rural households, or about one-quarter of total rural households, rent their homes. Rural renters are twice as likely as owners to live in structurally substandard housing and approximately twelve percent of rural renters live in either moderately or severely inadequate housing. Over the years, Section 515 has financed more than 550,000 decent, secure, sanitary and affordable homes, which are often the only rental housing available in rural communities. The average income of the typical resident is less than $10,000 per year, and approximately fifty-six percent of these resident households are elderly or disabled Americans.
To ensure tenant protection, H.R. 2876 is authorized for use both in the community as well as in revitalized projects and sets tenant rents in these projects at thirty percent of income, including utilities. Additionally, the bill creates two new types of Tenant Protection Vouchers that protect residents of Section 515 housing when an owner decides to prepay the loan and converts the development to other uses, or converts to rental housing that is not affordable to low-income households.
The bill has been referred to the House Financial Services Committee, whose Chairman, Representative Barney Frank, is included in the list of original co-sponsors.
