Webinar on Protecting Residents of Rural Development Properties, December 12

The National Housing Law Project will conduct a free webinar on protecting residents of USDA’s Rural Development (RD) rental housing when an owner of that housing prepays an RD loan or when the loan matures. The webinar is for advocates, attorneys, and others who have an interest in protecting residents against displacement and preserving RD rental housing. The webinar will take place on Tuesday, December 12 at 2:00 ET.

When an RD loan is prepaid or matures, the property may lose its affordability, and low income residents may be displaced. While there are legal protections that limit resident displacement and preserve RD developments, these protections are not properly enforced. Consequently, nearly 5,000 households are adversely affected each year by prepayments and loan maturities when their developments lose Interest Credit and Rental Assistance subsidies that support low income residents. Thousands more will be affected over the next few years because of an increase in loan maturities. 

Advocates and nonprofit or public agencies are typically not aware that an RD rental development in their area is being prepaid, that the prepayment was or will be subject to use restrictions, that residents may be eligible for RD vouchers, or that the development is reaching loan maturity. Nor are they aware of how they may be able to protect the residents against displacement both before and after prepayment and potentially preserve the development.

The webinar will discuss:

  • How you can find out whether a development is or was prepaid, and whether the prepayment was or will be subject to use restriction.
  • How to enforce use restrictions and secure RD vouchers to protect residents against displacement.
  • What tenant protections and preservation alternatives exist when a loan is maturing.
  • Ways in which RD prepayment, use restriction, and voucher regulations do not conform to their authorizing statutes and fail to preserve developments or prevent resident displacement. 

Register for the webinar at: http://bit.ly/2jw1Ok4