By Stan Keasling, RCAC chief executive officer

The House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees for Agriculture released preliminary numbers for next fiscal year. Generally the House numbers are more conservative than those from the Senate, which requested $1.1 billion for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Section 502 Direct lending and $30 million for USDA Section 523 Mutual Self-Help Housing. We were trying to increase the self-help number, but it does not appear that this will be possible for next year.

This article “Scarcity of Housing in Rural America Drives Worker Shortage,” talks about one aspect of the need for rural housing. Also, I spent a portion of last week at the Corporation for Supportive Housing’s annual meeting. The increase in rural homelessness is dramatic, and the answer is more affordable housing. Housing First is the key strategy to combat homelessness and critical for supportive service delivery. Local service providers need partnerships with housing developers to access housing for their clients. We are interested in learning about your work in this area, and we are more than willing to share our experience.