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Rural Development working on backlog

The 500 employees at the USDA Rural Development loan processing office in St. Louis are tackling mounds of paperwork that piled up during the shutdown and furlough, so home loans and purchases that were delayed should be carried out in the coming weeks. All but 30 employees there were furloughed.

Patrice Kunesh, USDA Deputy Undersecretary for Rural Development, was there on Monday. She tells Brownfield Ag News, “During the three-week shutdown, of course, we were not processing any of our grant applications or loan applications for businesses, for housing, for water systems. We have a tremendous backlog.”

Although there was a lot of disruption with services, she says they are working hard to get caught back up, “We have an avalanche of mail that’s come through over the last three weeks and the employees out here have been diligently opening up every single letter.”

During the shutdown, home and business loans and foreclosures could not go through affecting home purchases and more. But, Kunesh tells Brownfield that Rural Development should be caught back up in the next few weeks if not sooner.

Interview with Patrice Kunesh (9:00 mp3)

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