USDA accepting loan applications

United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development is accepting applications for two programs that provide loans or grants for income eligible rural residents.

Single Family Housing Repair Loans and Grants, also known as the Section 504 Home Repair Program, provides loans to very-low-income homeowners to repair, improve or modernize their homes. This program also provides loans and grants to elderly, very-low-income homeowners, to remove health and safety hazards. This year, the program provided more than $1.8 million in funding for repairs to 294 rural Pennsylvania homes.

Single Family Housing Direct Loans, also known as the Section 502 Direct Loan Program, assists low and very low-income applicants with obtaining decent, safe and sanitary housing in eligible rural areas by providing payment assistance to increase an applicant’s repayment ability. Payment assistance is a type of subsidy that reduces the mortgage payment for a short time.

The amount of assistance is determined by the adjusted family income.