USDA's Rural Housing Service (RHS) oversees a complete portfolio of housing options for single rural residents, rural families, and underserved rural residents, including farm workers, the elderly and those living in some of America’s poorest rural communities. The Rural Housing Service distributes more than $4 billion in loans and grants annually to improve housing and community facilities in the nation's rural areas. In 1999 the agency helped more than 67,000 rural Americans purchase or improve their homes, financed the construction of more than 2,100 units of affordable rental housing and built or expanded 620 vital community facilities, including rural schools, libraries, day care centers, police and fire stations