The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued guidance for conducting its mandated five-year review to identify areas that no longer qualify as rural for housing programs. For purposes of establishing eligibility to participate in USDA direct and indirect single-family housing guaranteed programs, “rural” and “rural area” are defined as “any open country, or any place, town, village or city which is not part or associated with an urban area.” To be designated as rural or rural area, the area must have a population not exceeding 2,500 inhabitants or a population of more than 2,500 up to 10,000, “if it is rural in character.” An area with more than 10,000 inhabitants up to 20,000 may be classified as rural if it is not within a standard metropolitan statistical area and “has a serious lack of credit for lower and middle-income families, as determined by the [USDA] secretary or the secretary of the ...