USDA Community Facilities Guaranteed Loan Program

USDA Rural Development State Office(s)

The Community Facilities Guaranteed Loan Program guarantees loans from eligible private lenders to help build essential community facilities in rural areas.

Funds can be used to purchase, construct, and/or improve essential community facilities, purchase equipment, and pay related project expenses.

Examples of essential community facilities include:

• Healthcare facilities and services
• Fire, rescue, and public safety facilities and services
• Community, public, social, educational, or cultural facilities or services
• Transportation facilities such as streets, bridges, roads, ports, and airports
• Certain utility projects when not eligible for Rural Utilities Service financing, gas distribution systems, recycling and transfer centers or stations
• Telecommunications end-user equipment when related to public safety, medical, or educational telecommunication links when not eligible for Rural Utilities Service financing
• Water infrastructure facilities such as levees, dams, reservoirs, inland waterways, canals, and irrigation systems
• Purchase and installation of renewable energy systems for use by an essential community facility
• Land acquisition and necessary site preparation including access ways and utility extensions to and throughout an industrial park site
• Community parks, community activity centers, and similar types of facilities

Eligible applicants include lenders with the legal authority, financial strength, and experience to operate a successful lending program.

Examples of eligible lenders:

• Federal and state-chartered banks
• Savings and loans institutions
• Farm credit banks with direct lending authority
• Credit unions
• Additional nonregulated lending institutions approved by USDA

Eligible borrowers include:

• Public bodies
• Nonprofit organizations
• Federally recognized tribes
• Tribes on federal and state reservations

Eligible areas are rural areas with populations of 50,000 residents or less.

Loan amounts vary, with a maximum amount of $100,000,000. USDA will guarantee 80% of eligible loans.

Lenders begin the application process by contacting the appropriate USDA Rural Development State Office(s).

Borrowers may begin the application process by contacting the appropriate USDA Rural Development State Office(s) to discuss the project. The state office will discuss funding options and refer eligible applicants to approved guaranteed loan lenders or to additional USDA Community Facilities loan and grant programs.