Kumar Thangudu

I believed the USDA rural loan program was one of the last refuges for those at the bottom against a regime of new taxes, fees, and expenses coming to the American taxpayer. https://dailyyonder.com/analysis-trump-2026-budget-slashes-rural-housing-and-other-programs/2025/05/06/ “USDA Programs Key USDA housing programs that would receive zero 2026 funding under the Trump budget include USDA Sec. 502 direct home loans for low-income borrowers and the 60-year-old self-help housing program.  Turning to USDA Rural Development, the document says that the “Budget would also eliminate programs that are duplicative, too small to have macro-economic impact, costly to deliver, in limited demand, available through the private sector, or conceived as temporary. These include rural business programs, single family housing direct loans, self-help housing grants, telecommunications loans, and rural housing vouchers. Rural Development salaries and expenses are reduced commensurately.” Hmmm. Well, the 502 loan program dates from 1950 and is one of the federal government’s oldest housing programs for low-income people. It is also a loan program that is repaid to the government. The Sec. 502 direct program between 1950 and 2020 has provided loans to allow 2.2 million low-income rural families to become homeowners. Most of those families would not have become homeowners without that program. ” Was fun while it lasted.