USDA home loan change celebrated

POST FALLS - The recently passed federal Farm Bill had a trickle-down effect right here in the River City.

The bill marked the success of a campaign by local real estate agents and city officials to save USDA rural housing loan programs.

Real estate agents estimate that about 80 percent of home loans in recent years in Post Falls have fallen under the USDA umbrella.

"Post Falls has a significant number of low- and moderate-income residents who will benefit from USDA housing assistance programs," said Linda Wilhelm, a real estate broker and Post Falls City Council member who participated in the campaign. "The loss of those programs would have had serious impact on many of our citizens' ability to own homes."

The Farm Bill increased the "rural" population threshold for USDA loans from 20,000 to 35,000. With Post Falls' population nearing 30,000, the city was on the verge of losing its "rural" designation.

While Post Falls passed the 20,000 population threshold for the loan programs several years ago, it and similar-sized cities received extensions in recent years.

The new threshold will remain in effect until the 2020 Census.

In its campaign to increase the threshold, Post Falls city officials sent a letter to federal lawmakers asking that they consider changing the population mark to 50,000.

"Losing this opportunity would have a detrimental effect not only on home ownership, but also on obtaining decent affordable rental homes and apartments," the letter states.

If the change hadn't been made, more than 900 "rural" communities would no longer be eligible for USDA Rural Housing Service programs.

Post Falls officials believe it would have been an economic development blow to the city, which has a lot of open space left for future housing.

USDA Housing and Community Facilities Administrator Tammye Trevino made a stop in Post Falls last year to boost awareness about the need to raise the threshold.

Trevino said the USDA programs - and the construction trade jobs that have come as a result - were one of the few bright spots during the recession. Lenders, she said, invested money in the system and didn't want to lose something that worked well.

In 2006, $6 billion in loans were made under the Guaranteed Rural Housing Loan Program. The number ballooned to $20 billion in 2012.