FHFA Expands America’s Affordable Housing Supply in Rural and Underserved Communities; 2) Senate Passes FY 2026 Agriculture Appropriations Bill

CARH.org —Aug. 6, 2025

Regulatory Alert

On August 5, FHFA issued a Press Release entitled, Consistent with the One Big Beautiful Bill, U.S. Federal Housing Expands America’s Affordable Housing Supply in Rural and Underserved Communities.

According to the press release, with the passage of One Big Beautiful Bill (see CARH’s July 8, 2025, Broadcast Email), Fannie and Freddie can together now deploy $4 billion each year in support of the affordable housing tax credits — half of which will be reserved for difficult to serve LIHTC markets and at least 20% of that half will be Duty to Serve Rural Communities.

Legislative Update

In CARH’s Broadcast Email of July 31, 2025, we reported that the full Senate would likely begin consideration of S. 2256, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill for FY 2026, after the August recess. In a surprise move, the Senate on the evening of August 1, prior to recessing until after Labor Day, passed a “minibus” appropriations bill combining funding for Military Construction-Veteran’s Administration (VA), the Legislative Branch, and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This “minibus” bill is the first appropriations bill for FY 2026 to pass the Senate. No changes were made to Rural Development’s housing programs as CARH reported in our July 31 Broadcast Email. There were two votes taken on the bill: the Military Construction-VA and Agriculture sections passed by a vote of 87-9; the Legislative Branch vote was 81-15. It will now be up to the full House of Representatives in September to pass its version of the USDA funding bill, H.R. 4121, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill for FY 2026, and perhaps follow the Senate and pass it in a “minibus” bill and then conference the differences.