Evidence Matters: Rural Housing

Rural Housing (Winter 2026)

Editor's Note

This issue of Evidence Matters explores rural housing in the United States. In this issue, you will learn about the complex housing issues confronting rural communities and innovative strategies advanced to ameliorate them.

The lead article, "Rural Housing," discusses housing challenges unique to and prevalent in U.S. rural communities, such as affordability, the physical inadequacy of homes, homelessness, difficulty in aging in place, and disaster response and recovery. The article also describes federal, state, local, and private policy efforts to address these challenges.

The Research Spotlight article, "Toward a Context-Based Definition of 'Rural,'" highlights the lack of a common definition of the term "rural" and the resulting implications and challenges for researchers and policymakers. The article summarizes various definitions of rural that federal agencies use and concludes that these differing definitions affect whether households meet classification standards for government programs. The Research Sidebar, "Rural Access to Mortgages," examines evidence of the challenges to obtaining mortgages in rural areas, focusing on the scarcity of small-dollar loans.

The In Practice article, "States Address Housing Barriers in Rural Communities," details three rural housing initiatives states have implemented to spur development and boost homeownership. These efforts include North Dakota's Rural-Workforce Initiative to Support Housing, South Carolina's County First initiative, and Kansas' Moderate Income Housing program.

We hope that the articles in this issue of Evidence Matters will offer readers greater insight into rural housing in the United States. We welcome feedback at www.huduser.gov/forums.

— Brian Knudsen, Editor