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Rural Housing

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Winter 2026   

    IN THIS ISSUE:

Rural Housing

Highlights

      • Approximately 44 percent of rural renter households and 19 percent of rural homeowning households are cost burdened.
      • More than half of the 6.7 million occupied manufactured homes in the United States are in rural areas, where they make up 13 percent of all occupied homes.
      • Numerous federal, state, and local programs along with private-sector initiatives help address rural housing challenges.


Housing challenges such as unaffordable housing, homelessness, and housing supply that fails to keep up with demand often are thought of as problems of urban areas, where housing markets are tight and labor and land are costly. Yet rural areas have their own affordability and supply challenges. Some housing issues are unique to rural areas, such as the difficulty and cost associated with construction in remote areas, and some issues are experienced differently or more commonly in rural areas, such as "hidden" homelessness and housing inadequacy. Other issues, such as housing cost burdens, are similar to those households elsewhere face but with underlying causes specific to rural areas. This article summarizes the housing challenges unique to and prevalent in U.S. rural communities and describes efforts to address these challenges.

A single-family house along a quiet road surrounded by a green rural landscape.
There are many different ways to define "rural," with implications for research, policy, and program eligibility.

Defining Rural

Multiple definitions of rural exist, each with different implications for research and policy (see "Toward a Context-Based Definition of 'Rural'"). Unless otherwise noted, this article reports statistics from the Housing Assistance Council (HAC), a leading source of information on rural housing. HAC bases its definition of rurality primarily on housing density and commuting distance at the subcounty level.1 HAC's census-tract-level definition distinguishes between rural tracts (which include small-town tracts), suburban tracts (which include exurban tracts), and urban tracts.2 Since 1984, HAC has published decennial reports on the state of rural housing called Taking Stock. HAC tabulates data from the U.S. Census Bureau such as the American Community Survey, the American Housing Survey, and other sources according to its geographic designations. Using the 2023 edition of Taking Stock as a source of demographic, economic, and housing statistics allows this article to report an array of information using a consistent definition of rural.

HAC estimates that 60.4 million people live in rural areas (rural and small town tracts) of the United States, including Appalachia; the "Black Belt" across the South; much of the Midwest, West, and Southwest; and the 56 million acres of Indian Country.3 HAC found that between 2010 and 2020, the rural population experienced little to no overall growth while the population in other areas increased, making the rural population in 2020 a relatively smaller share of the total U.S. population at approximately 18 percent. This population change was uneven, however; the population of rural areas in the West rose, and the population of areas in the Midwest and Southeast fell.4 In 2020, three-quarters of the rural population was non-Hispanic White, down from 85 percent in 1990. With a median age of 41, rural America's population was older than that of the nation as a whole (median age of 38).5 The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Economic Research Service, which defines rural as non metropolitan (see "Toward a Context-Based Definition of 'Rural'"), reported that between 2020 and 2022, more than half of nonmetropolitan counties experienced net in-migration. Driving this recent migration has been the increasing number of remote workers and retired people who are seeking recreational amenities and an improved quality of life.6

HAC reports that in 2021, 15.1 percent of rural households lived in poverty, higher than the national rate of 12.6 percent. Rural poverty rates are especially high among female-headed households with children, Black households, and Native American households and are much higher among renter households than homeowner households (26.5% and 6.3%, respectively).7 Persistent poverty also is geographically concentrated in rural areas. Approximately 83 percent of the 455 persistent poverty counties and county equivalents in the United States (counties with a poverty rate of 20% or higher for three consecutive decades) are in rural areas — Appalachia, the South, the Southwest, and parts of the West.8

Table showing rural and national housing characteristics.
*Derived from 2017–21 American Community Survey and 2020 Census of Population and Housing. Source: Housing Assistance Council. 2023. "Rural Housing," Taking Stock; Housing Assistance Council. 2020. "Homeownership in Rural America," Rural Research Brief.

Rural Housing: Challenges and Responses

According to HAC's 2023 Taking Stock report, approximately 29 million housing units are in rural areas and 23 million (80%) of those units are occupied.9 Single-family detached homes make up 72.1 percent of rural housing units; 13.4 percent are manufactured or mobile homes and 12.2 percent are structures with two or more units.10 The percentage of owner-occupied homes in rural areas is higher than that of the nation as a whole (73% and 65%, respectively), and nearly half of those homes are owned outright, with no mortgage debt, compared with 37 percent of such homes in the nation as a whole.11 HAC reports that significant numbers of rural residents face housing challenges.12 These challenges include insufficient supply in some places, cost burdens for both renters and homeowners, limited credit access, physical housing inadequacy, homelessness, difficulty aging in place, and difficulty responding to and recovering from natural disasters. Although many of these challenges are not unique to rural areas, their causes and aspects of the experience of the challenges often are different from those of suburban or urban areas. For example, many renters in both urban and rural areas struggle with affordability; in urban areas, high land costs exacerbate this problem, but in rural areas, where land is generally less expensive, the problem stems from different factors, such as limited supply, lower population densities that make building at scale less profitable, infrastructure costs, a lack of lenders, relatively low median incomes, and construction costs related to transporting labor and materials to remote places.13

Affordability. In 2021, 44 percent of rural renter households, totaling 5.6 million households, were cost burdened (spending more than 30% of household income on housing) and 21.5 percent were severely cost burdened (spending more than 50% of household income on housing). Approximately 18.7 percent of rural homeowners are cost burdened.14 By some estimates, only 54 affordable units exist for every 100 extremely low-income renter households in rural areas (when rural is defined as areas that are not in metropolitan or micropolitan areas).15

Between 2010 and 2020, the housing supply grew much more slowly in rural areas, at 1.7 percent, than in suburban areas (12%) and in the nation as a whole (9%). That growth was also uneven; the supply of rural homes increased in 26 states and decreased in 24.16 Although rural areas have vacancy rates of roughly 20 percent, nearly half of these vacancies (47%) are seasonal or vacation homes and therefore do not indicate available supply or slack in the market.17 The remaining vacant homes account for 10.4 percent of all homes in rural areas, closer to the 7.6 percent nationally that are vacant but are not second or vacation homes.18

Construction can also be more difficult and costly in remote rural areas. Barriers to greater supply include the lack of local builders and construction workers and the costs involved for them to travel from larger markets, the difficulty of building at scale in low-density areas, and the expense of connecting infrastructure to serve these areas.19 Materials costs may escalate with additional shipping and handling, and additional pay or benefits may be required to attract labor to distant locations.20

Migration has stoked housing demand in some rural areas since 2021. Using Census data, researchers found that in 2023, almost 60 percent of rural counties experienced net-positive domestic migration.21 Average home prices increased by more than one-third in rural areas, defined as "counties outside of metro areas, counties in smaller markets, and the lower-density suburbs of large metro areas with over 1 million people," between March 2020 and March 2023.22 Those increases were uneven, however, because nearly one-third of those rural areas experienced price increases of 40 percent or more during this period.23

Several federal programs aim to create or preserve the supply of affordable housing. Some of these programs specifically target rural areas through USDA (see "USDA Rural Housing Production Programs") or Indian Country, which is rural; other programs do not expressly target rural areas but are used to meet housing needs in rural areas.

Approximately 28,000 rental properties with more than 533,000 apartments have been constructed through the USDA Section 515 program since it began in 1963. However, no new construction has been financed through the program since 2012, and many properties have prepaid their mortgages or reached the expiration of their affordability restrictions, leaving fewer than 400,000 Section 515 units as of 2023.24 Although not a rural-specific program, low-income housing tax credits (LIHTCs) are a substantial source of funding for the construction of rural multifamily rental housing. According to a Freddie Mac analysis of the 2018 5-Year American Community Survey and the National Housing Preservation Database, 25.7 percent of multifamily renter households in rural areas live in properties actively supported by LIHTCs compared with 12.6 percent in the nation as a whole.25

USDA Rural Housing Production Programs

USDA programs define rural in statute based on population thresholds and other, more subjective characteristics such as "rural character," with some amendments to grandfather in areas where the population has exceeded the definition's limits.

  • USDA Section 515: Rural Multifamily Rental Housing Direct Loans — direct loans to construct or rehabilitate multifamily rental housing for low-income households.
    •  
  • USDA Section 514: loans to purchase, construct, or repair housing for farm laborers.
    •  
  • USDA Section 516: grants to Section 514 loan recipients for up to 90 percent of development costs.
    •  
  • USDA Section 538: guarantees for loans to purchase, construct, or rehabilitate multifamily rental housing for low- and moderate-income households.
    •  
  • USDA Multifamily Housing Preservation and Revitalization Demonstration: grants, no-interest loans, and loan modifications to improve the condition of Section 515 and Section 514 properties.

Source: Katie Jones and Maggie McCarty. 2022. "USDA Rural Housing Programs: An Overview," Congressional Research Service.

Although these programs focus on constructing, rehabilitating, or preserving housing, other programs ease affordability pressures through rental assistance (see "HUD and USDA Rental Assistance Programs").

Additional programs support rural homeowners, one in five of whom are cost burdened.26 Homeownership rates are higher in rural areas, but barriers to mortgage access persist. Rural buyers traditionally have borrowed from brick-and-mortar lenders, which have become less prevalent. Rural borrowers also are more likely to have low or absent credit scores. Rural homes are more likely to have titling and adequacy deficiencies that make them ineligible for a mortgage.27 (See "Rural Access to Mortgages" for more on rural credit access.)

USDA's Section 502 Single Family Housing Direct Loans program provides direct loans to low- or very low-income homebuyers at low, fixed rates and, in some cases, with subsidized monthly payments.28 In fiscal year (FY) 2023, USDA issued 7,128 Section 502 loans totaling $1.7 billion.29 Section 502 also has a loan guarantee component that covers 90 percent of the loan's principal to encourage private lenders to lend to borrowers who cannot otherwise secure credit.30 In FY 2023, the program guaranteed 37,756 loans totaling $6.8 billion.31 Over time, the proportion of guaranteed Section 502 loans to direct loans has grown substantially.32 The Section 184 Indian Home Loan Guarantee program is an additional mortgage guarantee program available to Native American borrowers, and, of course, Federal Housing Administration and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs mortgage insurance is available to qualified borrowers nationwide.33

Another source of affordable housing in rural areas is manufactured housing. Excluding the cost of land, the average cost of manufactured housing is lower than that of site-built housing. Subject to the construction standards set in HUD Code, modern manufactured housing is comparable in quality, safety, strength, and efficiency to site-built housing.34 Manufactured homes often are financed through a personal property loan, and homeowners may not own their homesites (see "Rural Access to Mortgages"). Manufactured housing currently makes up roughly 13 percent of occupied homes in rural areas and could potentially provide additional affordable housing stock. HAC estimates that more than half of the approximately 6.7 million occupied manufactured homes in the United States are in rural areas.35 Although newer manufactured homes are comparable to other homes at a much lower average construction cost, the roughly 20 percent of occupied manufactured homes that were built before 1980 may have quality deficiencies.36 Zoning that prohibits manufactured housing, complicated financing, and delivery challenges all pose barriers to the broader use of manufactured housing.37 There also is potential for modular, factory-built homes, which benefit from better cost efficiency; stronger quality control; and shorter, more predictable construction times, to make up a greater share of rural housing.38 In 2023, less than 4 percent of housing in the United States was modular housing, indicating that policymakers and developers have underutilized this innovative strategy.39 Modular housing faces many of the same challenges as manufactured housing.40

Physical Inadequacy. Over the past 50 years, the United States has drastically reduced the number of physically inadequate homes (those that are overcrowded or have poor ventilation) and severely inadequate homes (those that have other quality deficiencies such as lacking plumbing or heating or having serious electric or structural deficiencies). However, a disproportionate share of the remaining inadequate and severely inadequate homes are in persistently poor rural areas.41 In 2023, according to HAC analysis of the American Housing Survey, more than 1.4 million rural homes were classified as inadequate, with 368,000 having severe issues such as deficient plumbing, heating, or electrical wiring.42 Accounting for the large number of substandard homes further reduces the supply of safe, affordable housing. When excluding physically inadequate housing, the number of affordable units available for every 100 extremely low-income renters in nonmetropolitan, nonmicropolitan areas drops from 54 to 44 — closer to the 43 per 100 in low-density suburban areas, and still better than the 35 per 100 in central cities.43

One resource homeowners can use to address physically inadequate housing is the USDA Section 504 Single-Family Housing Repair Loans and Grants program. Section 504 provides loans and grants to very low-income homeowners to make repairs and improvements. Homeowners must be aged 62 or older to be eligible for grants.44 In FY 2023, USDA issued 4,113 grants totaling $39.2 million and 1,973 loans totaling $15.1 million.45 HUD's HOME Investment Partnerships and Community Development Block Grant programs also can fund state and local home repair programs.46 The Section 533 program funds housing repairs through grants to nonprofit organizations, government entities, Indian Tribes, and other eligible groups that can help homeowners and rental property owners repair or replace roofs, install or repair water and septic systems, improve accessibility, or repair or replace heating systems, among other activities. In FY 2021, USDA awarded 115 grants totaling $13.5 million.47

A grassy hillside with a multifamily building in the foreground and a row of houses behind it on higher ground.
Seventy-two percent of rural homes are single-family detached units, and only 12.2 percent consist of two or more units, contributing to a lack of affordable rentals.

Nonprofits also can play a role in meeting some of the need for home repairs. In an area of southern Appalachia spanning the states of Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, the Appalachia Service Project (ASP) deploys teams of volunteers to repair homes at no cost to the homeowner. ASP can replace and repair roofs, floors, siding, and drywall and can build ramps.48 Since its founding in 1969, ASP has repaired more than 19,000 homes, but the organization notes that they are "only able to serve a small percentage of those applying," indicating that the need for additional organizations and resources remains great.49

In addition to the challenges to accessing credit noted above, homeowners in rural areas may struggle to finance repairs and rehabilitation because of appraisal gaps, meaning that the cost of repairs exceeds the expected value of the rehabilitated property. Such gaps are especially likely for homes that are older, have been vacant, are in severe disrepair, and are in weak markets.50

Homelessness. Rural homelessness is sometimes referred to as "hidden," meaning that it may be less visible than homelessness in urban areas. HAC's tabulation of HUD data estimated that approximately 109,000 people were experiencing homelessness in rural Continuums of Care (CoCs) in 2022, amounting to 19 percent of the national total.51 Slightly less than 60 percent of these people were sheltered. However, conducting point-in-time counts can be difficult when covering large areas with low capacity and few service sites.52 Consequently, people experiencing homelessness in rural areas are likely to be undercounted.53

Several unique factors contribute to rural homelessness or make the experience different, including a higher prevalence of inadequate housing, higher rates of poverty, and low social service capacity. The remoteness of providers in many areas makes getting help and accessing resources harder for people experiencing homelessness.54 Regional disparities in homeless services may cause people to move to cities in search of supports, but researchers note that limited data exist on the migration patterns of people experiencing homelessness.55

HUD CoCs can help build and coordinate service capacity. Many rural areas are covered by a Balance of State CoC, which allows smaller jurisdictions to share a centralized administration system, but providing services over a large geographic area remains challenging.56 Transportation help, which is especially needed in areas where little public transportation infrastructure exists, connects people to homeless services.

Aerial view of a rural town featuring residential buildings interspersed with trees, green landscape, and a road going down the middle..
Nearly half of owner-occupied rural homes are owned outright, with no mortgage debt.

Difficulty in aging in place. The median age of rural residents is older than that of the nation as a whole. Rural residents are more likely to age in place than their urban counterparts, but rural areas also tend to have fewer alternative aging-friendly options, so rural residents might stay in homes that are not well-suited for aging.57 Rural residents also often are distant from services and amenities, including grocery and other retail stores, hospitals and medical facilities, and transportation hubs.58 Remoteness and social isolation can be particularly challenging for older residents, especially those who do not drive and lack other transportation options. Healthcare services can be difficult to access.59 Rural areas typically have low residential density, and their internet service can be slow or unreliable — factors that increase social isolation, especially among seniors.60

Many of the same programs that help residents afford home modifications to address general housing deficiencies can be used to make homes more amenable to aging in place, including USDA's Section 504 program, which restricts eligibility to participants aged 62 and older. Common modifications to help aging residents include installing shower grab bars, stairway handrails, and entryway ramps.61 HUD also awards grants to nonprofits, state and local governments, and public housing agencies to implement home modifications and repairs that enable low-income seniors to age in place through its Older Adults Home Modification Program. Qualifying improvements aim to increase safety and functionality for residents. No less than one-third of the funding for this program must go to grantees serving substantial rural populations, defined as "a Census-defined county, county subdivision, or place that is outside of a Census-defined urbanized area for the 2020 Census."62

Communities can invest in transportation infrastructure, or, in areas where low density makes that infeasible, in services and technologies that can help overcome transportation barriers, such as broadband internet to support telehealth or mobile health services.63 For example, with philanthropic support, North Dakota State University's Extension Program administers the Aging in Community Project. The project is being piloted in two rural communities, Lisbon and Western Morton County, to provide services to older adults that allow them to age in place.64 Services include transportation to medical appointments, fall prevention classes, and technology help.65

A green one-story home with a gravel driveway overlooking wooded hills.
Transporting materials to remote locations over difficult terrain can increase construction costs.

Disaster response and recovery. Rural communities face unique challenges when responding to and recovering from disasters. Rural areas may have limited resources and capacity to respond to disasters, administer federal housing aid, or even share information about available resources.66 Remote areas might be difficult for emergency responders to reach quickly.67 Resource limitations are especially acute in rural places marked by persistent poverty. Older manufactured housing, which is more prevalent in rural areas, can be more susceptible to damage from natural disasters.68 The lack of affordable housing, low housing density, and dearth of emergency housing options such as hotels mean that families displaced by disaster may have to relocate far from their homes, and there may be few places for emergency responders to stay to provide long-term support.69 Distributing needed resources can also be more difficult when the population is widely dispersed. Finally, some rural areas have limited access points. It can be difficult to provide needed resources if, for example, a disaster closes the only road or bridge that connects a location to the surrounding area.70

Although rural communities often have limited material resources, researchers find that residents of rural areas often have developed a sense of community and self-reliance that can aid in disaster response and recovery.71 Researchers recently studied the recovery of the town of Happy Camp, California, where the 2020 Slater Fire destroyed 212 homes — 40 percent of the town's housing units. The researchers found that the residents' strong sense of community and commitment to the town helped Happy Camp activate preexisting partnerships in recovery work. These community assets have been especially critical given the considerable challenges that the disaster posed. The researchers have found that isolation and lack of housing have made it difficult for residents not only to rebuild but also to recruit teachers and other personnel needed to support the needs of children who lived through the fire and the subsequent displacement and disruption of their lives.72 A study by Bethany Cutts and David Lowry of rural Robeson County in North Carolina, which was hit by devastating hurricane-related floods in 2016 and 2018, noted the importance of community organizations, particularly churches, in post-disaster communication and direct assistance.73

Federal resources to help rural communities recover from disasters include the Federal Emergency Management Agency, HUD's Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery, and USDA programs. USDA currently has a Single Family Housing Rural Disaster Home Repair Grants program for low- and very low-income homeowners of properties that sustained damage from presidentially declared disasters in the 2022 calendar year.74

A row of small homes along a street with green, tree-covered mountains in the background.
Rural borrowers face various barriers to accessing mortgage credit, including a decline in the number of local lenders and the scarcity of small-dollar loans.

State, Local, and Private Efforts

In addition to the many federal programs, state and local governments, along with private partners, can support rural renters and homeowners. Purdue University and the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs find that 22 percent of states have rural-specific housing programs ranging from homebuying counseling to infrastructure grants to support housing development.75

For example, the Rural-Workforce Initiative to Support Housing (R-WISH) pilot program in North Dakota issues construction loans in rural areas where companies have relocated or expanded, and the County First initiative in South Carolina provides forgivable down payment assistance to eligible homebuyers (see "States Address Housing Barriers in Rural Communities"). In a portion of Appalachia spanning Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Alabama, Virginia, and Maryland, Fahe — a member-owned network of more than 50 community nonprofits — makes community loans to, facilitates collaboration among, and provides technical assistance to member organizations to build up rural communities.76 Since launching in 1980, Fahe has supported 515 households with $115.4 million in mortgages. Fahe also introduced a program in 2009 to package USDA Section 502 loans that has served rural areas across 18 states with 3,500 loans totaling more than $500 million.77 At the local level, rural towns such as Mount Pleasant, Iowa, are using state programs like the Iowa Housing Loan Program to provide low-interest loans to developers.78

Conclusion

Overall, most rural residents have physically adequate, affordable housing, and they both own homes and own homes outright at rates higher than that of the nation as a whole. However, rural areas face unique dynamics that lead to housing affordability challenges for their residents, such as low population densities that make building at scale difficult, remote locations requiring costly infrastructure expansion and transportation for construction materials and labor, lower incomes, and inadequate service provision. These and other factors lead to housing challenges for many residents — 44 percent of renters and 18.7 percent of homeowners are housing cost burdened, 1.4 million units of housing in rural areas is classified as inadequate, and the phenomenon of hidden homelessness leaves many residents unserved. Too often, rural communities are not considered in discussions of housing affordability and other housing issues. This lack of visibility underscores the importance of tailoring housing interventions to rural contexts. Many federal, state, and local programs along with private-market solutions such as manufactured housing seek to alleviate rural housing problems, but needs remain.

Related Articles

HUD and USDA Rental Assistance Programs


  1. Housing Assistance Council. 2023. "What Is Rural?" Taking Stock.
  2. Ibid.
  3. Housing Assistance Council. 2024. "Demystifying Rural Data: Do You Know Your Market?" Rural Voices 26:1; Institute for Research on Poverty. 2020. "Many Rural Americans Are Still 'Left Behind'," Fast Focus Research/Policy Brief 44-2020; U.S. Department of the Interior, Indian Affairs. 2017. "What is a federal Indian reservation?" (www.bia.gov/faqs/what-federal-indian-reservation). Accessed 3 February 2026.
  4. National Low Income Housing Coalition. 2023. "Housing Assistance Council Releases Latest Edition of Taking Stock Report"; Housing Assistance Council. 2023a. "Rural People and Places," Taking Stock.
  5. Housing Assistance Council 2023a.
  6. John Cromartie. 2024. "Net Migration Spurs Renewed Growth in Rural Areas of the United States," Amber Waves, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service; Housing Assistance Council 2023a.
  7. Housing Assistance Council. 2023b. "The Rural Economy," Taking Stock.
  8. Ibid.
  9. Housing Assistance Council. 2023c. "Rural Housing," Taking Stock.
  10. Ibid.
  11. Ibid.
  12. Ibid.
  13. Sierra Stoney. 2022. "Housing the Workforce in the Rural Fifth District," Econ Focus, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond; National Low Income Housing Coalition. 2024 "Housing Needs in Rural Communities," Accessed 24 April 2025; Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition. 2024. "Tackling the Rural Housing Crisis: The Vital Role of the Housing Credit"; Sierra Latham and Peter Dolkart. 2022. "The Pricing and Supply of Rural Housing," Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
  14. Housing Assistance Council 2023c; National Low Income Housing Coalition. n.d. "Rural Housing,"
  15. Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. 2024. "America's Rental Housing," 38.
  16. Housing Assistance Council 2023c.
  17. Housing Assistance Council. 2020. "Housing Change and Occupancy in Rural America," Rural Research Brief September, 3.
  18. Housing Assistance Council 2023c.
  19. Kansas Housing Resources Corporation. 2021. "Kansas Statewide Housing Assessment," 32; National Low Income Housing Coalition. n.d. "Rural Housing"; North Dakota Housing Finance Agency. 2022. "Statewide Housing Needs Assessment 2020–2025 (Condensed)," 13; Root Policy Research. 2024. "Wyoming Community Development Authority Statewide Housing Needs Assessment," 40, 43.
  20. American Institute of Architects. 2013. "Construction Costs," Emerging Professional's Companion, 163.
  21. Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. 2024. "The State of the Nation's Housing," 18.
  22. Alexandra Hermann and Peyton Whitney. 2024. "The Geography of Pandemic-Era Home Price Trends and the Implications for Affordability,"
  23. Anthony F. Pipa and Zoe Swarzenski. 2024. "What everyone should know about rural America ahead of the 2024 election," Brookings.
  24. David Lipsetz. 2023. "Statement for the Record of David Lipsetz, President & CEO, Housing Assistance Council, U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Housing, Transportation, and Community Development Subcommittee," 6–7.
  25. Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition. 2024. "Tackling the Rural Housing Crisis: The Vital Role of the Housing Credit"; Freddie Mac Multifamily. n.d. "LIHTC in Rural Persistent Poverty Counties," 9.
  26. Housing Assistance Council 2023c.
  27. Adam Staveski. 2024. "3 Major Obstacles Limit Rural Homeownership," Pew Charitable Trusts.
  28. Katie Jones and Maggie McCarty. 2022. "USDA Rural Housing Programs: An Overview," Congressional Research Service, 6-8.
  29. Staveski; Housing Assistance Council 2023d.
  30. Jones and McCarty, 6–8.
  31. Housing Assistance Council. 2023d. "USDA Rural Development Housing Activity Report: Fiscal Year 2023."
  32. Jones and McCarty, 21.
  33. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. "Section 184 Indian Housing Loan Guarantee Program" (www.hud.gov/section184). Accessed 16 June 2025.
  34. Manufactured Housing Institute. 2023. "2023 Manufactured Housing Facts: Industry Overview."
  35. Housing Assistance Council. 2020. "Manufactured Housing in Rural America," Rural Research Brief.
  36. Ibid.
  37. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 2020. "Factory-Built Housing for Affordability, Efficiency, and Resilience," Evidence Matters Winter/Spring.
  38. JPMorganChase. 2021. "The Future of Modular Affordable Housing."
  39. Contain. 2024. "Factory Homes? Modular Housing Against the Housing Crisis," blog, 13 August.
  40. Ibid.
  41. Housing Assistance Council. 2024. "HAC's 2024 Rural Housing Policy Priorities."
  42. Housing Assistance Council 2023c.
  43. Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University 2024, 38–9.
  44. Jones and McCarty, 8–9.
  45. Housing Assistance Council 2023d.
  46. Local Housing Solutions. "Home repair and homeowner rehabilitation assistance programs" (localhousingsolutions.org/housing-policy-library/homeowner-rehabilitation-assistance-programs/). Accessed 16 June 2025.
  47. Jones and McCarty, 18.
  48. Appalachia Service Project. "ASP Services for Homeowners" (asphome.org/homeowners/#about-repairs). Accessed 17 March 2025.
  49. Ibid; Appalachia Service Project. "ASP's History" (asphome.org/about/history/). Accessed 17 March 2025.
  50. Mike Kingsella. 2020. "Combatting the Housing Crisis in Rural America," Up for Growth.
  51. National Health Care for the Homeless Council. 2013. "Rural Homelessness: Identifying and Understanding the 'Hidden Homeless'," In Focus: A Quarterly Research Review of the National HCH Council, 1:4; Housing Assistance Council 2023c.
  52. Chan Kemper. 2023. "Community Solutions' Policy Recommendations on Rural Homelessness," Community Solutions; National Health Care for the Homeless Council.
  53. National Health Care for the Homeless Council.
  54. Nan Roman and Steve Berg. 2016. "An Overview of Rural Homelessness," Rural Voices 21:1, 6; National Coalition for the Homeless. 2020. "Rural Homelessness."
  55. Andrew Sullivan and Kotomi Yokokura. 2022. "Exploring Unsheltered Homelessness, Migration, and Shelter Access in Kentucky," Cityscape 24:1, 287–8.
  56. Local Housing Solutions. "Coordinating with a Continuum of Care as part of a local housing strategy" (localhousingsolutions.org/plan/continuum-of-care-coc-as-part-of-a-local-housing-strategy/). Accessed 16 June 2025.
  57. Sung-Jin Lee, Kathleen Rose Parrott, Minyong Lee, Sheryl Renee Robinson, and Ricky Nimako Owusu. 2021. "Residential Satisfaction of Rural Older Adults Aging in Place," Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine 7, 1–7; Rural Health Information Hub. "Community Supports for Rural Aging in Place and Independent Living" (www.ruralhealthinfo.org/topics/community-living). Accessed 16 June 2025; Housing Assistance Council 2023a.
  58. Alexander Hermann and Whitney Airgood-Obrycki. 2024. "In Search of Rural: How Varying Definitions Shape Housing Research," Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.
  59. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 2015. "Senior Housing and Services: Challenges and Opportunities in Rural America," PD&R Expert Convenings.
  60. Hermann and Airgood-Obrycki.
  61. National Home Safety and Home Modification Work Group. 2021. "Simple Fixes for a Safe and Supportive Home."
  62. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 2024. "FR-6800-N-69-Full Announcement - Full Announcement."
  63. Megan Lahr and Carrie Henning-Smith. 2021. "Barriers to Aging in Place in Rural Communities: Perspectives from State Offices of Rural Health," Policy Brief, University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center.
  64. North Dakota State University. "Aging in Community Project" (www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/extension/programs/aging-community-project). Accessed 19 March 2025.
  65. North Dakota State University. "Lisbon Area: Aging in Community Project" (www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/extension/programs/extension-aging-community-project/lisbon-area). Accessed 19 March 2025.
  66. U.S. Government Accountability Office. 2025. "After Disaster Hits, Rural Communities Face Unique Challenges in Recovering," WatchBlog, 28 January; National Low Income Housing Coalition 2024; Housing Assistance Council. "Before and After Natural Disasters" (ruralhome.org/rural-resilience-in-face-of-disaster/before-and-after-natural-disasters/). Accessed 16 June 2025.
  67. Legal Aid Disaster Resource Center. 2023. "Disaster Relief and Recovery in Rural Areas."
  68. Housing Assistance Council. "Before and After Natural Disasters,"
  69. National Low Income Housing Coalition 2024.
  70. U.S. Government Accountability Office.
  71. Alessandra Jerolleman. 2020. "Challenges of Post-Disaster Recovery in Rural Areas," in Louisiana's Response to Extreme Weather: A Coastal State's Adaptation Challenges and Successes, Shirley Laska eds. Switzerland: Springer, Cham, 287–9.
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