USDA Community & Facilities Guaranteed Loan Program (CF)

This program provides loan guarantees to eligible lenders to develop essential community facilities in rural areas. An essential community facility is defined as a public improvement, operated on a non-profit basis, needed for the orderly development of a rural community where the rural community is a city or town, or its equivalent county or multi-county area.

 

How can loan funds be used? Eligible uses include, but are not limited to: 

• Health Care facilities and services, including but not limited to hospitals

• 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 (conditions apply)
• 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

What can loan funds NOT be used for?

• Lines of credit

• Owner-occupied and rental housing
• Golf courses or golf course infrastructure
• Racetracks or gambling facilities
• Facilities used for inherently religious activities
• Projects that create, directly or indirectly a conflict of interest 
• Inherently commercial enterprises

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What is considered an eligible area?

• Rural areas not in a city or town with a population of more than 50,000 inhabitants, with certain exceptions
• The borrower’s headquarters may be based within a larger city as long as the project is located in an eligible rural area

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Who may qualify for these loan guarantees?

Eligible borrowers are:

• Public bodies
• Indian tribes on Federal and State reservations
• Federally-recognized Tribes
• Non-profit organizations

Additional entities may be eligible for other types of loan guarantees under the OneRD Guarantee Loan Initiative.

Are there additional requirements?

• Applicants must have legal authority to construct, operate, and maintain the proposed facilities and services and to obtain, give security for, and repay the proposed loan 
• Applicants must be unable to finance the project from their own resources or through commercial credit at reasonable rates and terms
• Applicants must provide evidence of significant community support
• Non-profit organizations must have significant ties to the project service area
• Tax exempt financing cannot be guaranteed by this program
• Facilities must be for public use and serve the rural area where they are/will be located