Is the rural housing bill important to all of us ... yes!!!!

H.R. bill 5003 "The Rural Housing Improvement Act" introduced today to resolve the projected funding shortfall with the Guaranteed program.



Key provisions of the bill:





It is said to be a short bill of approximately 21 sentences in length.

Key to passage of the bill is the fact that it will result in the program being self-funded with no increase to the deficit.

Self-funding will be accomplished by increasing the guarantee fee from 2.0%. Expectations are for an increase to 3.44% or 3.5%. The 3.44% number is said to be the exact figure based upon 2009 performance, but it may be rounded up to 3.5%.



Going forward, the USDA program administrator will have authority to raise or lower the guaranty fee based upon loan performance from the prior year. For example, 2010 performance is looking better than 2009, so if that pattern were to continue, one could expect to see the guarantee fee reduced next year.





The combination of these provisions is expected to enable USDA to avoid future funding shortfalls.



The bill is in committee now and was introduced by Shelley Moore Capito, the ranking Republican on the committee. Barney Frank is the ranking Democrat on the committee. We are not hearing of opposition to the bill. The House version of the bill has been provided to the Senate so that one consistent version can be approved by both and forwarded to the President for signature.



The goal is for the bill to be passed before current funding is exhausted.



Now is the opportune time to contact your congressmen regarding your support for immediate passage of H.R. bill 5003. It sounds as if there is little doubt about the bill's passage, but the most urgent challenge is to get it to the top of the priority list for approval and Presidential sign-off.