Amends the Housing Act of 1949, with respect to financial assistance to farm owners through the Farmers Home Administration, to permit the Secretary of Agriculture to consider as rural or a rural area for farm housing purposes a place, town, village, or city with a population of 35,000 or less that demonstrates that it is experiencing economic distress from which such financial assistance would be of significant value in helping it recover.
Cites as evidence of economic distress: (1) an unemployment rate higher than the national average, or (2) an average wage or home sale price lower than the national wage.