February 11, 2015

Changes in whether a geographic area is classified as rural or non-rural may affect applicants for the USDA Rural Development Single Family Housing (SFH) Programs.
For families and individuals to be eligible for application to the SFH programs, the property must be located in a “rural” area, generally non-metro communities less than 35,000 in population. Effective February 2, 2015, the Future Eligible Areas map were implemented. For Illinois, the changes primarily involve realigning boundaries along roads and municipal corporate limits rather than imaginary boundaries. This should help lenders and applicants more easily identify whether a property is eligible for USDA’s assistance.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.