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USDA Seeks Applications for Grants to Help Repair Housing in Rural Communities
WASHINGTON, March 23, 2020 – Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Bette Brand today announced that USDA is seeking applications for grants to make housing repairs for low- and very-low-income rural residents. The grants are being provided through USDA’s Housing Preservation Grant program.
Eligible applicants include town or county governments, public agencies, federally recognized Indian tribes, and nonprofit and faith-based organizations. USDA does not provide funding directly to individual homeowners under this program. For additional eligibility information, see page 16314 of the March 23, 2020, Federal Register.
Applications are due by 5:00 p.m. local time on May 7, 2020, at the Rural Development state office where the project will be located. For a list of offices, visit the state office website.
USDA encourages applications that will support recommendations made in the report to the President from the Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity to help improve life in rural America.
Applicants are encouraged to consider projects that provide measurable results in helping rural communities build robust and sustainable economies through strategic investments in infrastructure, partnerships and innovation. Key strategies include:
• Achieving e-Connectivity for Rural America
• Developing the Rural Economy
• Harnessing Technological Innovation
• Supporting a Rural Workforce
• Improving Quality of Life
To leverage investments in rural property, USDA also encourages projects located in rural Opportunity Zones. These projects must demonstrate an ability to show measurable results in helping communities build robust and sustainable economies. An Opportunity Zone is an economically distressed community where new investments, under certain conditions, may be eligible for preferential tax treatment. Localities qualify as Opportunity Zones if they have been nominated for that designation by the state and that nomination has been certified by the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury.
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