Housing Assistance: An Inventory of Fiscal Year 2010 Programs, Tax Expenditures, and Other Activities

U.S. Government Accountability Office

Administering Agency/Entity	Department of Agriculture
Short Description	Provides loans and grants to very low-income homeowners to repair, improve, or modernize their dwellings or to remove health and safety hazards. To obtain a loan, a homeowner-occupant must be unable to obtain affordable credit elsewhere and have a very low income, defined as below 50 percent of the area median income. Grants are only available to homeowners who are 62 years old or older and cannot repay a Section 504 loan. They may be used only to pay for repairs and improvements to remove health or safety hazards. A grant/loan combination is made if the applicant can repay part of the cost.
Primary Purpose	Assistance for homeowners
Type of Housing Supported	Homeownership
Type of Assistance	Grant; Loan
Fiscal Year 2010 Obligations	$35,000,000; obligations for grants under this program were $32 million and the expected credit subsidy costs for loans originated in fiscal year 2010 were $3 million. Estimates of credit subsidy are revised in subsequent years and the ultimate cost will not be known until the loans have matured.