Title 42, The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-110

§9810 Financial Assistance to Low-income Families, Local Cooperative Associations, and Local Public or Private Nonprofit Organizations or Entities; Amount, Purposes, Etc.

Title 42 › CHAPTER 105 — COMMUNITY SERVICES PROGRAMS › SUBCHAPTER I — COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT › Part B — Special Rural Programs › § 9810

Last updated Sep 23, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary can give money, including loans that can last up to 15 years and that never leave a family owing more than $3,500 at once, to low-income rural families when the help is likely to raise their income or improve their housing or living conditions. The money can be used to buy or fix land and homes, pay down debts, run or improve family-size farms (including supplies and equipment), or join cooperatives or start nonfarm businesses to add income. The Secretary can also help local cooperatives and nonprofits in poor rural areas pay to set up and run programs for farming, marketing, and processing, and to improve incomes and provide credit and health services. Costs covered can include staff, planning, technical help, and startup capital when poverty or local conditions make it needed.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §9810

The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary is authorized to provide financial assistance, including loans having a maximum maturity of fifteen years and in amounts not resulting in an aggregate principal indebtedness of more than $3,500 at any one time, to any low-income rural family where, in the judgment of the Secretary, such financial assistance has a reasonable possibility of effecting a permanent increase in the income of such families, or will contribute to the improvement of their living or housing conditions, by assisting or permitting them to—

(1)acquire or improve real estate or reduce encumbrances or erect improvements thereon;

(2)operate or improve the operation of farms not larger than family sized, including but not limited to the purchase of feed, seed, fertilizer, livestock, poultry, and equipment; or

(3)participate in cooperative associations, or finance nonagricultral enterprises which will enable such families to supplement their income.

(b)The Secretary is authorized to provide financial assistance to local cooperative associations or local public and private nonprofit organizations or agencies in rural areas containing concentrations or substantial numbers of low-income persons for the purpose of defraying all or part of the costs of establishing and operating cooperative programs for farming, purchasing, marketing, processing, and to improve their income as producers and their purchasing power as consumers, and to provide such essentials as credit and health services. Costs which may be defrayed shall include—

(1)administrative costs of staff and overhead;

(2)costs of planning and developing new enterprises;

(3)costs of acquiring technical assistance; and

(4)initial capital where it is determined by the Secretary that the poverty of the families participating in the program and the social conditions of the rural area require such assistance.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 9810

Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Sep 23, 2026

Release point: 119-110