The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) established its Single-Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program in 1991 [1] to help expand access to mortgage financing in rural areas. Since then, nearly 1.5 million rural residents have purchased homes with USDA loan guarantees, and more than 134,000 buyers have used USDA’s loan guarantees to purchase homes in rural areas in 2015 alone.
On Tuesday, September 20, the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will host a hearing titled “Examining the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service: Stakeholder Perspectives [2]” at 1:30 p.m. Central.
The USDA provides loan guarantees to lenders if a borrower defaults, thus significantly reducing a lender’s risk and increasing the lender’s ability to reach potential homeowners. Through the USDA’s Rural Housing Services, a variety of programs are offered to build or improve housing and essential community facilities in rural areas of the nation. The USDA offers loans, grants, and loan guarantees for single- and multifamily housing, childcare centers, fire and police stations, hospitals, libraries, nursing homes, schools, first responder vehicles and equipment, housing for farm laborers, and much more.
Testifying at the Senate Banking Committee discussion will be Elizabeth Glidden [3], Deputy Executive Director of the Minnesota Housing Partnership [4]; Marcia Erickson [5], CEO of GROW South Dakota [6]; Tonya Plummer [7], Director, Native American Housing Programs, Enterprise Community Partners [8]; and David Battany [9], EVP, Capital Markets for Guild Mortgage Company [10], on behalf of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) [11].
Glidden drives Minnesota Housing Partnership policy and program initiatives toward outcomes that improve the quality, affordability, and availability of housing in Minnesota and beyond. She is a public policy professional and lawyer with more than 25 years of experience. She served as Council Member for the City of Minneapolis from 2006-2017, and Council VP from 2013-2017, advocating for state and local affordable housing policies, improving the Section 8 program, leading historic designation processes for projects associated with our past public policies of segregation and racial covenants, and advising on community development.
Erickson has been with GROW South Dakota for more than 30 years, and became the CEO in 2005. She has a broad range of experience in mobilizing and administering resources from private, state, and government funding sources. GROW South Dakota has three non-profits under its umbrella that provide housing, community, and economic development activities in the State of South Dakota.
As Director of Native American Housing Programs for Enterprise Community Partners, Plummer focuses on the shortage of affordable rental homes, as Enterprise targets solutions, capital, and community development.
With more than 30 years of leadership in the mortgage space, Battany is EVP, Capital Markets for Guild Mortgage, overseeing the company’s capital market activities, including pricing, hedging and secondary market execution. He is also responsible for Guild’s credit policy, shipping, and product development functions, and manages investor relationships with GSEs, government agencies and private investors. He is a member of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Residential Board of Governors (RESBOG) for 2022 and serves as Co-Chair of the MBA 2022 Affordable Homeownership Advisory Council, a position he also held in 2021. He is Co-Chair of the National Housing Conference 2022 Black Homeownership Collaborative, and is a Board Member of Habitat for Humanity.
Click here for more information on the Senate Banking Committee’s hearing “Examining the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service: Stakeholder Perspectives [2].”
Here's what else is happening in The Week Ahead:
- 2022 Five Star Conference and Expo [12] (Monday)
- Fannie Mae's Refinance Application-Level Index [13] (RALI) (Tuesday)
- MBA Weekly Applications Survey [14] (Wednesday)
- Realtor.com Weekly Housing Market Recap [15] (Wednesday)
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey [16] (Thursday)
- House Financial Committee Hearing: “State of Emergency: Examining the Impact of Growing Wildfire Risk on the Insurance Market” [17] (Thursday)
- U.S. Department of Labor's Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report [18] (Thursday)