Meeting the Housing Needs of Rural Residents: Results of the 1998 Survey of USDA's Single Family Direct Loan Housing Program

USDA’s Section 502 Single Family Direct Loan Housing Program provides subsidized housing loans to low- and moderate-income rural residents who do not own adequate housing and cannot obtain a home mortgage from other sources. Typical recent borrowers from the program are under 40, have children, have low or modest incomes, have a home that is better than their previous residence, and are satisfied with their current home, neighborhood, and the Section 502 program. Most believed that, without assistance from the program, they would have been unable to afford a comparable home for at least 2 years and possibly never. These findings are based on a national survey of 3,027 recent Section 502 borrowers, conducted by the Economic Research Service at the request of USDA’s Rural Development mission area. The survey identified borrower characteristics and addressed issues of program effectiveness and performance. This report compares the survey’s findings with similar information for other low- to moderate-income rural residents and provides a separate analysis of program participation by elderly, single-parent, disabled, Hispanic, and black households.