Question (4). Are there any VISTA projects or special volunteer projects serving the rural elderly in each of these three States? If so, can you provide a description of project activities and goals; sponsoring agency and location; number of elderly served; and current total Federal program obligations for each? Answer. Note: In Fiscal Year 1976, the average Federal cost in direct payment to each VISTA volunteer was $4,470. This figure should be added for each volunteer in addition to the other support costs indicated. Iowa Western Community Col- 4 VISTA's serving 3,500 rural elderly identify health needs of senior citizens in 8 counties for health education and related courses. $1,200 for volunteer transportation. $2,400 for volunteer transportation. Mid-Sioux Opportunities, Inc., 1 VISTA serving 1,500 rural elderly $500 for transportation conRemsen. working with Meals on Wheels; trans- tract on GSA car. Volunteer Bureau, Waterloo...... 1 VISTA serving 30 rural elderly en- $1,410 for volunteer transpor- Minigrant: Mid-Sioux Opportunities, Coordinate volunteer opportunities for $2,275. VISTA: NEBRASKA 15,995 persons over age 60 in 5 Center for Rural Affairs, Walt- 4 VISTA's serving 180 rural elderly- $6,112 for volunteer transporhill. Nebraska Indian Inter-Tribal Development Corp., Winnebago. SOUTH DAKOTA establish Co-op food stores and pro- 2 VISTA's serving 120 rural elderly pro- VISTA: Northeast South Dakota 1,300 elderly low income in rural areas tation. $11,136 for volunteer transportation. $19,686 for volunteer supervision (both for 16 mo). $3,000 for volunteer supervision and $2,000 for volunteer transportation. Question (5). In addition to the information requested above for the Senior Companion program, can you supply the committee with a description of the volunteer settings and the number of elderly served by each of the Senior Companion programs in these three States? Answer. As indicated above, there currently are no operating Senior Companion projects in the three States where the initial field hearings are to be held. It is contemplated that one Senior Companion project each will be funded in Iowa and Nebraska in the near future. Question (6). Has your agency been unable to fund any grant applications from these three States for RSVP, Senior Companion, or Foster Grandparent programs during the last two years, and if so, how many? It is hoped that this information will be beneficial to the hearings. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance. Sincerely, WILLIAM B. PRENDERGAST. ITEM 2. LETTER FROM FRANK B. ELLIOTT, ADMINISTRATOR, FARMERS HOME ADMINISTRATION, WASHINGTON, D.C.; TO SENATOR DICK CLARK, DATED JULY 15, 1976 DEAR SENATOR CLARK: This will reply to your letter concerning Federal programs for the elderly. You specifically requested information about the rural housing program of the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) to be used at the Special Committee on Aging hearings which will be conducted in Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota. We will answer the questions you asked in the order they were presented: (1) Rural areas. Because of the nature of some of the FmHA programs, we have more than one definition for a rural area. They are as follows: (a) The official designation of a "rural area" as it relates to the rural housing program follows: Section 520 of the Housing Act of 1949, as amended, states, "As used in this title, the term 'rural' and 'rural area' mean any open country, or any place, town, village, or city which is not part of or associated with an urban area and which (1) has a population not in excess of 2,500 inhabitants, or (2) has a population in excess of 2,500 but not in excess of 10,000 if it is rural in character, or (3) has a population in excess of 10,000 but not in excess of 20,000, and (A) is not contained within a standard metropolitan statistical area, and (B) has a serious lack of mortgage credit, as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of HUD." Attachment 1* is a copy of the definition of rural areas as it apears in FmHA Instruction 444.1. (b) The official definition of a rural area under the business and industrial loan program is that "'rural' and 'rural area' may include all territory of a State, the Commonwealth of Puerto and the Virgin Islands, that is not within the outer boundary of any city having a population of 50,000 or more and its immediately adjacent urbanized and urbanizing areas with a population density of more than one hundred persons per square mile, as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture according to the latest decennial census of the United States: Provided, that special consideration for such loans and grants shall be given to areas other than cities having a population of more than twenty-five thousand." This definition is also applicable to industrial grants of the community programs. (c) As it relates to community programs, with the exception of "industrial grants" to the terms "rural" and "rural area" shall not include any area in any city or town having a population in excess of 10,000 inhabitants according to the latest decennial census of the United States. (2) For rural housing loan purposes, we define a senior citizen as an individual who is 62 years of age or older. This is in accordance with the provisions of section 501(b) (3) of title V of the Housing Act of 1949. (3) Section 504 Rural Housing Repair Loans: (a) From fiscal year 1965 through fiscal year 1975, we made 309 of these loans in Iowa; 54 in Nebraska and 99 in South Dakota. *Retained in committee files. (b) We do not have cumulative statistics on the number of these loans made to the elderly. Most section 504 rural housing loans, however, are made to elderly persons as an eligible borrower must be a owner-occupant with a very low income. Elderly persons use the loans to repair their homes. (c) The outreach activities of the agency for the section 504 loan program include group information talks, agency representation at conventions and meetings with interested groups, such as church groups, issuance of information pamphlets, advertising the program through the local media, and publicity by other Federal agencies. The FmHA's delivery system, however, consists of approximately 1,760 county offices located primarily in county seat towns where housing loans are processed. This means that the local representative of the FmHA is located not too far from most rural residents. (d) Reactivation of the grant portion of the 504 program would definitely make it more accessible to senior citizens. Many of those who would like to repair their homes do not have the resources and cannot afford to repay a housing loan. (4) From fiscal year 1965 through fiscal year 1975 we made 791,305 section 502 rural housing loans, of which 33,415 were for senior citizens. (5) Statistics on rental units provided for the elderly by rural rental loans, are only available for fiscal years 1972 through 1975. During that period, 2,675 out of 3,261 units in Iowa, 76 out of 292 units in Nebraska, and 685 out of 1,812 units in South Dakota were made available for senior citizens. (6) Owner occupied and substandard housing: (a) Information obtained from the 1970 Census of Housing shows that there are 279,296 owner occupied housing units in the rural area in Iowa, 131,307 units in Nebraska, and 83,655 units in South Dakota. (b) We have no figures on the number of senior citizens living in substandard homes in Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota. The 1970 Census of Housing shows, however, that of the owner-occupied units in these three States, 39,671 homes in Iowa, 19,179 homes in Nebraska, and 22,879 homes in South Dakota lack some or all plumbing facilities. (c) We have not defined substandard housing in our regulations, however, we consider homes without bath and plumbing facilities and overcrowded dwellings as being substandard. We have established the standards for an adequate but modest home and the requirements are contained in the following publications: HUD Minimum Property Standards (MPS) 4900-SFH; 4910.1 MFH; 4920.1 Care Type Housing, and; 4930.1 Manual of Acceptable Practices. The requirements contained therein, define the minimum level of quality acceptable in each specific condition. This, in addition to the appropriateness of the building site and the neighborhood, other minor considerations, and the acceptability of the property as a whole, determine an adequate home for loans from FmHA. (7) A memorandum of understanding (see attachment 2*) on the use of section 8 of the U.S. Housing Act of 1937 and section 515 of the Housing Act of 1949 was signed by the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on June 23, 1976. In order to implement the program in compliance with the memorandum of understanding, both the FmHA and HUD must publish the required regulations to the field office; however, present instructions exist outlining the method for obtaining the combination of section 8 rental assistance payment program and section 515 loans in tandem. The FmHA requires, in accordance with HUD minimum property standards, that FmHA financed rental projects as well as single family housing designed for senior citizens, include certain special architectural features to assist the elderly such as handrails for bathtubs, special lighting, minimum width halls to accommodate wheelchairs, nonabrasive walls and maximum gradient of 5 percent for driveways. FmHA housing regulations require that the location of rural rental projects designed for senior citizens be convenient to stores, medical services, churches and other facilities needed regularly by the occupants. We appreciate your interest in our housing program and hope we have provided the information you requested. Sincerely, *Retained in committee files. FRANK B. ELLIOTT. ITEM 3. LETTER AND ENCLOSURE FROM WILLIAM H. WALKER III, ASSISTANT SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE; TO SENATOR DICK CLARK, DATED AUGUST 3, 1976 DEAR SENATOR CLARK: This will reply to your letter concerning planned hearings to examine the effectiveness of certain Federal programs which serve older Americans in rural areas. While I am responsible, in the Department, for the operations of the Farmers Home Administration, the Rural Development Service and the Rural Electrification Administration, I believe, from the questions you asked as they relate to the FmHA's business and industry program, the Farmers Home Administration. The attachments provide answers to the questions you asked as they relate to the FmHA's business and industry program, the Community programs and the rural housing programs. We appreciate your interest in the Department's rural development activities. [Enclosure] RURAL HOUSING PROGRAMS Questions answered in order asked: (1) The official definition of a "rural area," as it relates to the rural housing program is as follows: Section 520 of the Housing Act of 1949, as amended, states, "As used in this title, the term 'rural' and 'rural area' mean any open country or any place, town, village, or city which is not part of or associated with an urban area and which (1) has a population not in excess of 2,500 inhabitants, or (2) has a population in excess of 2,500 but not in excess of 10,000 if it is rural in character, or (3) has a population in excess of 10,000 but not in excess of 20,000, and (A) is not contained within a standard metropolitan statistical area, and (B) has a serious lack of mortgage credit, as determined by the Secretary and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development." Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) instructions, in defining rural area, basically repeat, in modified form, the above section 520 of the Housing Act of 1949, as amended. The FmHA instructions, based primarily on legislative history and other factors, also provides additional guidelines to the FMHA field staffs for making the necessary determination as to those areas which are rural and nonrural. (2) All rural housing programs are available to Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Following is a list of the housing programs currently operating with the corresponding obligations, as of June 3, 1976, for fiscal year 1976. The rural housing programs are authorized in the Housing Act of 1949, as amended. (3) While there is no strong disagreement with the designation that an "older American" is of age 60 or older, the FmHA housing programs consider the "elderly" to be 62 years of age or older. This age designation goes back to the "Senior Citizens Housing Act of 1962" which specifically states the term "elderly persons" means persons who are "62 years of age or over." Furthermore, we believe the Social Security Administration and others have, for several years, used 62 years of age as the time a person becomes a senior citizen. We recommend that the age of 62 be used by all agencies as the time a person is considered to be elderly. (4) All rural housing programs are available to the elderly. However, the three programs most widely used by that age group are the section 502 home ownership loans, the section 504 rural housing repair loans, and the section 515 rural rental housing loans. Following is a brief description of these housing programs. OUTLINE OF RURAL HOUSING PROGRAMS-FARMERS HOME ADMINISTRATION Purpose 502-Rural To buy, build or improve or housing loans relocate homes and re(adequate housing). Sec. housing loan. lated facilities. To buy 504-Rural To make minor repairs to Who may qualify or Low- and moderate-income fam- Private nonprofit corporations, Cooperatives owned, occupied and managed by eligible lowto moderate-income families or senior citizens. (5) We are unable to keep a running account of the number of elderly persons under our housing programs. Data is not compiled to show the number of elderly people who satisfy their housing loans by payment in full or other methods and thereby graduate from the housing programs. (6) The FmHA and HUD work together in many ways in an effort to provide housing for the elderly and others. Following is a list of some joint endeavors: (a) On June 23, 1976, the Secretary of HUD and the Secretary of Agriculture signed a memorandum of understanding covering the combining of the FmHA section 515 rental housing loan and the HUD section 8 program. This is a way to provide subsidized rental housing in rural areas. (b) The FmHA and HUD use the same minimum property standards (MPS). They work together, as needed in developing these standards. (c) The FmHA utilizes and is a party to HUD's contracts with credit reporting agencies for the obtaining of credit reports. (d) The FmHA and the Federal Insurance Administration of HUD worked together in the implementing of the Flood Insurance Protection Act of 1973. (e) The FmHA and the Flood Disaster Assistance Administration (FDAA) of HUD have a memorandum of understanding permitting the FDAA to use FmHA inventory housing for disaster victims. (7) We know of no way to accurately measure the current needs of the elderly for programs the Department administers in Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota. There is always a need for jobs, services, and better housing but statistical data is not available to enable us to answer this question in a responsible way. COMMUNITY PROGRAM LOANS Questions answered in order asked: (1) FmHA is authorized to make loans for facilities for public use in rural areas and towns of up to 10,000 in population. (2) See the following table: |