Housing Costly for Rural Poor, Study Finds

Nearly three in four poor rural households pay more for housing than the government considers affordable, and nearly one in four lives in substandard dwellings, according to a report issued Thursday by two nonprofit research organizations.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Housing Assistance Council said their research shows that 72% of rural poor households spent more than 30% of their incomes for shelter in 1985, the period covered by most recent census data.

Under standards set by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, housing is considered unaffordable if it consumes more than 30% of income.

Robert Greenstein, director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said the study proves that the nation’s housing affordability crisis is not limited to high-priced metropolitan areas.

“To many Americans, the low-income housing crisis is primarily an urban problem, calling up visions of homeless men and women sleeping on steam grates and of families in city welfare hotels,” Greenstein said. “Yet, in rural America, too, there is a crisis in housing for low-income people.”

The rural housing problem became more severe between the late 1970s and the mid-1980s, reflecting in part a “dramatic shift from surplus to a shortage of low-income rental housing,” the report said.

In 1970, there were 500,000 more low-income rental units in rural areas than households needing them, the report said, compared to a deficit of 500,000 low-rent units in 1985.

Without calling for specific programs, the report said that “the housing crisis for the poor is unlikely to improve in the years ahead unless major changes are made in government policies and in the actions of the private sector.”

Edward Lazere, a co-author of the report, said the burden of high housing costs contributes to other problems such as homelessness and hunger. “When housing costs consume so much of that household’s income, it becomes difficult for the household to buy enough food to last through the month,” he said.

Although housing costs are lower in rural areas than in urban locations, the report noted that incomes are lower as well.

The report found also that the quality of housing in rural areas is poorer than in urban areas, and the incidence of substandard housing is higher.