Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 4, 1994                   TAG: 9405040154
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MARION                                LENGTH: Medium

HUD SAYS HOMELESS ABOUND IN RURAL U.S.

Mary Ann E.G. Wilson said as many as 11 to 14 percent of the nation's homeless may be in non-metropolitan areas, although firm data are hard to get.

She said the 9th District, one of the state's largest congressional districts geographically, has its share. The region's natural beauty tends to keep people from recognizing the problem, she said, and does not create the same emotional stir as homelessness in big cities.

Wilson was the keynote speaker at a conference organized by Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, to assess the region's housing needs and resources available to meet them.

Participants at the daylong conference included officials of the Farmers Home Administration, Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, Virginia Housing Development Authority and agencies from many of the district's 23 counties and cities that deal with housing problems.

Wilson said the forum could also help the various national, state and local agencies set up information networks with one another to work on housing solutions.

Boucher listed some housing initiatives approved four years ago by Congress but never put into action. He hoped that would change soon.

Congress enacted the Affordable Housing Act of 1990 to provide HUD certificates for low- and moderate-income families to make mortgage payments rather than use only for rent, he said, but the act was never implemented. The Clinton administration is urging that the change be permitted next year, he said.

The act established a National Homeownership Trust Fund Demonstration program to help moderate-income families attain home ownership by paying on mortgages. This program is also proposed for funding in the 1995 fiscal year, Boucher said.

Other housing programs are already providing assistance in the district, he said.

One HUD program provides rental assistance vouchers and certificates to nearly 5,000 9th District households, he said. A Farmers Home Administration program is helping to fund 63 rental properties in the district and providing housing assistance to nearly 2,500 families.

Boucher said he is supporting funding increases for both programs.

He cited another FmHA program that has provided more than $12 million in direct and guaranteed loans to nearly 300 Southwest Virginia families in the past 18 months. State FmHA Director Lloyd Jones said the agency is trying to make itself increasingly ``user-friendly'' in the area of funding for homes.

Boucher said housing programs also help the general economy.

``Builders, bankers and Realtors receive direct benefits and, when construction and rehabilitation projects are undertaken, jobs are created in the private sector,'' he said. ``With the increased demand for goods and services, business in the community and local governments and our school systems reap the benefits of increased government revenues.''