USDA Provides $25 Million to Help Low-Income Appalachians Make Mortgage Payments

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is setting aside $25 million in mortgage funds for low-income homebuyers in Central Appalachia. The money is being provided to the Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprises (FAHE), a NeighborWorks member organization based in Berea, Kentucky.

The program targets pockets of poverty in the Central Appalachia states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. Through the program, low-income buyers will get mortgage payment assistance and interest rates as low as 1 percent. Some who qualify may even get 100 percent financing.

Known as The 502 Demonstration, these funds will be made available based on USDA’s existing Section 502 Direct Loan program, which received substantialnew funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or Stimulus Bill, passed in February of last year.

Learn more about it here.