To
provide decent, safe, and sanitary low-rent housing and related
facilities for domestic farm laborers.
TYPES
OF ASSISTANCE:
Project Grants. Place Cursor Here for Definition
Guaranteed/Insured Loans. Place Cursor Here for Definition
USES
AND USE RESTRICTIONS:
The
loans and grants may be used for construction, repair, or purchase
of year-round or seasonal housing; acquiring the necessary land
and making improvements on land for housing; and developing related
support facilities including central cooking and dining facilities,
small infirmaries, laundry facilities, day care centers, other essential
equipment and facilities or recreation areas. Funds may also be
used to pay certain fees and interest incidental to the project.
Restrictions on the use of funds are: The housing must be of a practical
type and must be constructed in an economical manner and not of
elaborate material or extravagant design. Housing financed with
labor housing loan or grant funds must be occupied by domestic farm
laborers and their families.
ELIGIBILITY
REQUIREMENTS:
Applicant
Eligibility: Loans are available to farmers,
family farm partnership, family farm corporation, or an association
of farmers. Loans and grants are available to States, Puerto Rico,
the U.S. Virgin Islands, political subdivisions of States, broad-based
public or private nonprofit organizations, federally recognized
Indian Tribes and non- profit corporations of farm workers. Grants
are available to eligible applicants only when there is a pressing
need and when it is doubtful that such facilities could be provided
unless grant assistance is available.
Beneficiary
Eligibility: A domestic farm laborer is any
person who receives a substantial portion of his/her income as
a laborer on a farm in the United States and is either (1) a citizen
of the United States, or (2) has been legally admitted for permanent
residency.
Credentials/Documentation:
The applicant must furnish factual evidence of the following:
(a) The number of domestic farm laborers currently being used
in the area; (b) the kind of labor performed; (c) the future need
for domestic farm labor in the area; (d) the kind, condition,
and adequacy of housing presently used for such labor; (e) ownership
of presently occupied housing; (f) ability of workers to pay necessary
rent; and (g) with the exception of State and local public agencies,
be unable to provide housing from its own resources or credit
on terms and conditions that would enable the applicant to provide
labor housing. Costs will be determined in accordance with 7 CFR
3015 or 3016 for State and local governments.
Pre-application
Coordination: Not applicable. This program is
excluded from coverage under E.O. 12372.
Application
Procedure: For FY 01 the Section 515 Program
will be awarded through a Notice of Funding Available (NOFA) announced
in the Federal Register December 26, 2000. The NOFA application
period is 4 months from the date of the announcement. The NOFA
deadline is April 25, 2001. Funds available for off-farm new construction
and acquisition and rehabilitation are as follows: Section 514
Loan $23,533,000; Section 516 Grant $10,000,000; Rental Assistance
(RA) and Operating Assistance (only for migrant workers) will
be available for all new construction funds. Other Distribution
of Funding: Loans: On-Farm-$2,000,000; Administrator's Reserve-$3,000,532;
Grants: Technical Assistant Grants-$1,500,000; Administrator's
Reserve-$3,500,000.
Award
Procedure: Applications will be scored on
the following factors: (1) The presence and extent of leveraged
assistance for the units that will serve RHS income-eligible tenants
at basic rents comparable to those if RHS provided full financing,
computed as a percentage of the RHS total development cost. A
minimum of ten percent leveraged assistance is less than ten percent
and the proposal includes donated land, two points will be awarded
for the donated land, (0 to 20 points); (2) Seasonal, temporary,
migrant housing. (5 points for up to and including 50 percent
of the units; 10 points for 51 percent or more); For FY 2001,
National Office initiative will be based on the presence of and
extent to which a tenant services plan exists that clearly outlines
services that will be provided to the residents of the proposed
project. Two points will be awarded for each resident service
included in the tenant services plan up to a maximum of 10 points,(0
to 10 points). Application selection process: (1) States will
review and score the applications and submit a list of applications
in rank and point score order to the National Office; (2) the
National Office will rank applications on a nation-wide basis
and will advise States of the results.
Deadlines:
April 25, 2001.
Range
of Approval/Disapproval Time: RHS uses a two-stage
application process for the Farm Labor Housing Program. First,
applicants submit preapplications, which are used to determine
preliminary eligibility and feasibility. RHS then invites some
applicants to submit final applications. Section 514/516 funds
are divided between off-farm housing and on-farm housing. The
off-farm program provides loans and grants to organizations that
assist farmworkers at off-farm locations with no restrictions
that workers be employed on a particular farm. Under new regulations
effective June 1999, preapplications for the off-farm program
funds must be submitted in response to a Notice of Funding Availability
(NOFA) published in the Federal Register every year. RHS scores
the preapplications, using a ranking process to determine which
applicants will be invited to submit final applications. The on-farm
program makes loans to eligible farmers (or a group of farmers)
to provide Housing, usually for their own laborers. Preapplications
for on-farm units, or for repair And rehabilitation of existing
off-farm units, may be submitted at any time are processed on
a first-come, first-served basis.
Appeals:
A person or organization who is directly and adversely affected
by an administrative decision by Rural Development should follow
the procedures found in 7 CFR Part 1900, Subpart B of "Rural Development
Administrative Appeal Procedures."
Renewals:
Not applicable; although, applicants may apply under subsequent
funding cycles.
ASSISTANCE
CONSIDERATIONS:
Formula
and Matching Requirements: In case of a grant,
10 percent or more of the total development cost must be obtained
from other sources. This may include funds made available through
the power to levy taxes, assessments or charges, or from other credit
sources including an Rural Development Labor Housing loan under
Section 514.
Length
and Time Phasing of Assistance: Loans are
usually made for 33 years at 1 percent interest. Grants may cover
up to 90 percent of development cost. The balance may be (and
usually is) a Section 514 loan. RHS rental assistance (RA) subsidy
can be used to limit tenant payments to 30 percent of their income.
RA can be used as an operating subsidy for projects or units with
Section 516 funding that serve migrants. It is RHS policy to attempt
to use less than a 90 percent grant when RA is utilized.
POST
ASSISTANCE REQUIREMENTS:
Reports:
Monthly progress reports are to be made to the Rural Development
District/State Offices during the first year of operation or until
requirement is waived by Rural Development.
Audits:
For borrowers not covered under OMB Circular No. A-133, annual
audits are required from borrowers with 25 or more units in one
or more projects. In accordance with the provisions of 7 CFR Part
3052, which implement OMB Circular No. A-133 (Revised, June 24,
1997), "Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations,"
nonfederal entities that receive financial assistance of $300,000
or more in Federal awards will have a single or a program-specific
audit conducted for that year. Nonfederal entities that expend
less than $300,000 a year in Federal awards are exempt from Federal
audit requirements for that year, except as noted in 7 CFR 3052.
Records:
Adequate operating tenant, and accounting records must be maintained
by borrower.
Obligations:
(Loans) FY 01 $25,001,000; FY 02 est $28,522,532; and FY 03 est
$28,522,532; (Grants) FY 01 $16,491,000; FY 02 est $15,000,000;
and FY 03 est $15,000,000. Notice of Funding Available (NOFA)
Published in the Federal Register: December 26, 2000.
Range
and Average of Financial Assistance:
Initial Grants $135,000 to $2,300,000. Average: $1,104,120. Initial
Loans to individuals $20,000 to $200,000. Average: $34,500. Initial
Loans to organizations $165,000 to $670,000. Average: $292,753.
During fiscal year 2001, 818 new units were built and 696 units
were rehabilitated or developed as multiple family type housing
and on-farm individual type housing units.
REGULATIONS,
GUIDELINES, AND LITERATURE:
7 CFR 1940.579 (a) and (b); Subpart D of 1944, Chapter XVIII; RD
Instruction 1944-D, "Building a Better Future for Farmworkers,"
(PA1669) revised August, 2000.
INFORMATION
CONTACTS:
Regional
or Local Office: Consult your local telephone
directory for Rural Development Area Office number. If no listing,
contact appropriate Rural Development State Office listed in Appendix
IV of the Catalog or on the internet at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/recd_map.html.
Headquarters
Office: Multi-Family Housing Processing Division,
Rural Housing Service, Department of Agriculture, Washington,
DC 20250. Telephone: (202) 720-1604. Use the same number for FTS.
Web
Site Address: http://www.rurdev.usda.gov
EXAMPLES
OF FUNDED PROJECTS:
Examples of funded projects are the projects sponsored by the Homestead
Housing Authority in Homestead, Florida, or The Boulder County Housing
Authority, Boulder, Colorado.
CRITERIA
FOR SELECTING PROPOSALS:
A clearly defined need must exist to provide housing for domestic
farm workers.
