Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (TX-30) and Congresswoman Alma Adams (NC-12) have introduced the Heirs’ Property Relending Program Progress Act to fix administrative issues within the Heirs’ Property Relending Program (HPRP) that are effectively blocking farmers and producers in Texas from receiving financial assistance to cover the cost of clearing title to heirs’ property.
As a result of historic discrimination, disenfranchisement, and disinheritance, these issues disproportionately impact Black farmers in Texas, and have made it harder for those producers to retain and profit from land that is rightfully theirs.
Heirs’ property is created when a landowner dies without a will or estate planning strategy delegating the transfer of land ownership. The 2018 Farm Bill authorized the creation of the Heirs’ Property Relending Program (HPRP) to mitigate the legal complications caused for producers by heirs’ property.
However, as a result of costly administrative hurdles for lenders in the program, not a single dollar has actually been loaned out to a producer since the program’s creation in 2018.
The Heirs Property Relending Program Progress Act would resolve these issues by allowing eligible lenders to use some of the funds initially intended as loans to cover administrative costs outright, rather than relying on high interest payments down the line.
The result would be to allow more money to actually get out the door to ultimate borrowers. The bill would also incentivize more lenders to participate in the program, which would in turn cover more producers.
“Last month, the Biden-Harris Administration took bold action to right historic wrongs done to Black farmers and producers by distributing $2 billion to thousands of minority farmers who have faced decades of government-backed discrimination. My bill builds upon the work of the Administration by fixing the administrative hurdles within the Heirs’ Property Relending Program, getting money out the door to those who need it to reclaim their land and livelihood,” said Rep.Crockett.
“Sometimes, even the most well-meaning programs need to be fine-tuned to fit the needs of those they were created to serve.
“As I continue to push my colleagues on the Agriculture Committee to reauthorize the Farm Bill without draconian cuts, I hope they will consider changes like those contained in our bill– common-sense fixes that help our government run better without raising the cost to taxpayers or cutting services our farmers and families depend on.”
