The United States Department of Agriculture provides loans to homes in eligible rural areas through the Section 504 Home Repair program. Find out if your property is eligible at the USDA Eligibility site.

Loans are available to very-low-income homeowners to repair, improve or modernize homes, or remove health & safety hazards. Grants are provided to elderly very-low-income homeowners to remove health & safety hazards only. In order to be eligible for many USDA loans, household incomes must meet certain guidelines.

To qualify, you must:

• Be the homeowner and occupy the house
• Be unable to obtain affordable credit elsewhere
• Have a household income that does not exceed the very low limit by county
• For grants, be age 62 or older

Applications for this program are accepted through your local Rural Development office year round