Construction Workers
Rural Revitalization Recommendations

Download | PrintEnable Javascript | Enable Javascript

  • Revise regulations for the small business loan guarantee programs of the U.S. Small Business Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to allow for the specific inclusion of community development financial institutions (CDFIs) as eligible loan originators...
    Read more recommendations    , and increase appropriations for the guarantees by 20 percent. Loan guarantees not only stimulate industry growth and job creation but also benefit rural financial institutions by enabling them to increase their loan portfolios.
  • Amend and revise the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) guidelines and regulations for all federal banking regulatory agencies to clarify that bank investments in rural areas are automatically CRA-qualified investments, whether or not the rural area served is within a bank’s assessment area(s).
  • Increase funding for the USDA’s Community Connect Broadband program, change the eligibility requirements to recognize that under availability of broadband services is just as much a problem for rural communities as unavailability, and develop digital infrastructure grants to provide broadband to rural America.
    Read more recommendations    Not only do rural areas require significant investment in terms of their physical infrastructure, but also a growing divide exists between rural and urban areas in terms of their “digital infrastructure.” Rural areas are already falling behind because they often lack the customer base to attract private broadband providers.
  • Increase efforts to ensure that small cities, micropolitan communities, and rural areas receive a fair share of allocations from the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), New Markets Tax Credit, and U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.
    Read more recommendations    Provide incentives for development cost subsidies under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s HOME, community development block grant (CDBG), and LIHTC programs for the development of smaller multifamily rental housing (less than 32 units). Ensure that state-administered programs such as HUD’s CDBG, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Workforce Investment programs take into account the economic development and employment training needs of small communities, especially in micro- and small business development.
  • Address the need for revitalization and refinancing of properties developed under the USDA Section 515 Rural Rental Housing Program. Without legislation to preserve rural low-income housing, many affordable housing units located in rural areas will be converted to market-rate housing.
  • Provide a “Marshall Plan” for Native communities through various federal funding sources to develop physical infrastructure, including, but not limited to, sewer, water, telecommunications, transportation, commercial, and governmental structures.
  • Develop a solution to the “heir property” problem that plagues many small family farmers, most often minorities. Heir property issues arise when a family farm passes to inheritors without a legal will in place. In many states, in these circumstances all heirs inherit an equal, undivided interest in the property.
    Read more recommendations    After a few generations, that policy can leave ownership of the property equally distributed among dozens if not hundreds of claimants, even if only one inheritor is actually living and working on the farm. The actual farmer cannot access loan financing for farming operations because the farm cannot be used as collateral without the approval of all the owners. Further, many family farms cease to exist when one of the inheritors (often one who lives far away) wants to sell the property. The farmer rarely has the resources to buy out each of the other inheritors and is forced to sell the farm and receive only a fraction of the sale price.