Friday, September 2nd 2016
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced an initiative that will use USDA's rural development resources to help fill the need for transitional housing for people recovering from opioid and other substance use disorders. In January, President Obama tasked Vilsack, who is chair of the White House Rural Council, with leading a federal interagency effort focused on rural opioid use. The initiative is the result of a conversation Secretary Vilsack had in May in New Hampshire at the Hillsborough County Superior Court, where individuals involved with the state's drug court program told him that a lack of access to affordable housing made it challenging for participants to successfully complete their recovery from addiction. In the first of the transitional housing actions announced, USDA Rural Development's Rural Housing Service is instructing its field staff that Community Facilities program financing may be used for the construction, expansion and improvement of transitional housing facilities. The CF program provides affordable funding to develop essential community facilities in rural areas, such as hospitals and schools. Additionally, the CF program can be used as a financing tool for non-profit organizations considering the purchase of existing properties for the purpose of transitional housing. In order to be eligible, transitional housing facilities must provide supportive services to rural residents to help them recover and prepare them to live independently within two years. Rural Development also instructed staff today that it is encouraging the sale of single-family homes and multi-family properties that are exiting USDA's Real Estate Owned (REO) housing program to qualified non-profit organizations that would convert them into transitional housing facilities. REO properties are houses owned by USDA as a result of foreclosure. The single-family REO initiative is effective in the 22 states where the REOs are managed by that state's Rural Development office. As part of this effort, the Secretary also announced a "Contract for Deed" pilot in the Single Family Housing program that would make USDA-held REOs available for purchase at below-market-rate cost by qualified non-profits providing housing for homeless individuals recovering from substance use disorder. The local non-profit would manage the property for the benefit of the individual and community, paying the taxes, making needed repairs and handling other responsibilities. They would have two years to complete the purchase transaction, and may use RHS financing, if available. The pilot is limited to a maximum of fifteen REO properties in the states of New Hampshire, Vermont, Nevada and Missouri.