The Housing Assistance Council (HAC), a national nonprofit that supports affordable housing efforts throughout rural America, has opened the application process for its second cohort of the Service Coordination Technical Assistance Program.

Approximately 600,000 residents across 12,500 properties call the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 515 portfolio home, with 30% of these residents being over the age of 62.

In 2025, HAC launched its first round of applications thanks to a generous grant from the AARP Foundation.

The funding helped HAC build resident service coordination programs for the first cohort of six management companies and 68 USDA Section 515 rental properties (2,316 units total). Properties across several states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Montana, and West Virginia, participated in the program. During initial site visits, property managers reported dire social-service needs of residents, such as isolation and loneliness, poor unit conditions, and missed rental payments.

In fiscal year 2023, USDA began allowing expenses related to resident service coordination in the agency’s multi-family program.

In 2024, LeadingAge was instrumental in working with USDA’s Rural Housing Service to establish the initial agency protocol for establishing rural Service Coordination programs–an initiative foreshadowed on a 2020 LeadingAge national member call.

All interested 515 owners and managers are invited to apply by March 15, 2026. For questions about the program, contact Seth Leonard.