USDA COMMUNITY FACILITIES PROGRAMS

Please click the following links, each of which provides more information of the 5 major USDA Community Facilities Programs:

• Community Facilities Direct Loans and Grants provide affordable funding to develop essential community facilities in rural areas (“Essential Community Facilities”), which are facilities that (a) provide an essential service to the local community for the orderly development of the community in a primarily rural area, and (b) do not include private, commercial or business undertakings.
• The Community Facilities Loan Guaranteed Program provide loan guarantees to eligible private lenders to help build Essential Community Facilities in rural areas.
• The Community Facilities Relending Program provides loans to eligible lenders, which then re-loan such funds to applicants for Essential Community Facilities for essential community infrastructure in order for people who live and work in rural areas to enjoy the same basic quality of life and services as those in urban and metropolitan areas.
• Economic Impact Initiative Grants assist in the development of Essential Community Facilities in rural communities with extreme unemployment and severe economic depression.
• Rural Community Development Initiative Grants assist non-profit housing and community development organizations, low-income rural communities, and federally-recognized Tribes, which support housing, community facilities and community and economic development projects in rural areas.

Depending on the particular USDA Community Facilities Program, its subsidy be used with traditional financing as well as other community and economic development programs, such as that provided by new markets tax credit financing, historic tax credit financing, low-income housing tax credit financing, opportunity zone financing, and CDFI Programs.

There are complex rules that must be followed in order to qualify for and comply with USDA Community Facilities Programs.