The housing crisis is hitting rural areas of New York, too. And according to the executive director of the Rural Housing Coalition of New York State, the governor’s executive budget isn’t helping. 

“The governor’s executive budget sort of neglected the needs of rural housing, and actually cut funding for housing,” Michael Borges told Capital Tonight.

Borges mentioned cuts to programs which provide emergency repairs to the homes of seniors and modifications to the homes of disabled veterans. There were also cuts in the governor’s executive budget to a network of nonprofit rural housing organizations that implement various programs throughout rural New York. 

“It flies in the face of logic; it’s like cutting funding for the police department in the middle of a crime wave,” Borges said.

Even more alarming than the funding cuts is the possibility of a surge of evictions in some of the most rural counties in the state. 

The United States Department of Agriculture’s “Section 515” program, established in 1949 by President Harry Truman, is sunsetting. The program provided low-cost financing for the construction of affordable, multi-family rental housing in rural communities.

A building boom using this program began in the 1980s, which means the 30-year mortgages for these homes are just about up. 

“When the mortgages expire, the affordability protections and the rental assistance that goes with them go away,” Borges said. “So, people who are living in those kinds of apartments may be kicked out because they don’t get the rental assistance anymore and can’t afford to live there. Or the landlord decides, I’m going to charge market-rate rents.”

The issue is exacerbated by the fact that in rural areas, there are no places for this cohort of renters to go.

“In rural communities, 75-78% of the housing stock is owner-occupied, so only a quarter is rental,” he said. “If you’re looking for another rental place to go, it’s scarce.” 

There are about 400 “Section 515” projects throughout the state, housing about 15,000 households. Many of the residents are low-to-moderate income, elderly and/or disabled. Their average income is $18,000 per year.

“These are the poorest of the poor,” Borges said. “The state needs to step up and preserve the housing that we do have.”

To prevent the evictions, the Rural Housing Coalition is looking to the state for $25 million to fund the Mitchell-Lama Housing Program to fund acquisition and rehabilitation of these properties by entities that would preserve their affordability. 

The 10 counties that would lose the most USDA “Section 515” properties by 2030 are in Wayne, Washington, Chenango, Cattaraugus, Seneca, Wyoming, Orange, Oneida, Tompkins and Erie.