Rural housing is facing an affordability crisis that’s getting worse. Large cuts in government funding for rural areas support is having a major problem equally for renters and homeowners, according to a draft report by the National Rural Housing Coalition.
Affordability has become an issue in rural areas
“In smaller, poorer areas, it’s very difficult to get the private sector to come in and pay for housing,” says Bob Rapoza, the National Rural Housing Coalition’s executive secretary. “The federal programs that have been lifelines for these areas have really been cut back. Development funding for these areas has been cut by 75 percent over the last 40 years.”
Housing affordability issues in rural areas are particularly bad in tribal lands and for seasonal farmworkers, the report notes. Overall, the rural poverty rate is 17.7 percent – about 3 % higher than urban areas. Nearly one in seven households earns under $15,000 each year. As such, about 50 % of poor rural Americans have housing expenses that exceed half their incomes.
The situation for rural housing wasn’t this bad in the past, Rapoza says. Several government organizations, including the Housing and Urban Development as well as the Department of Agriculture, had funded programs to fund the building of rural rental housing, such as Section 515. That alone helped fund about half a million units in the 1990s. The program also offered subsidies for renters.
But over the years, those subsidies have been gradually reduced. Then, in 2012, the USDA halted new construction of affordable renting housing through Section 515.
“For rural economies, federal support in various kinds is a big part of the picture,” he says. “There’s not much new construction going on. … Smaller communities, and depressed communities, need support for revitalization.”
We have seen the USDA areas here in the Tampa Bay area, decrease dramatically over the past few years. That doesn’t mean that the USDA Program is no longer available, it just means there are some areas, that used to be approved that no longer are approved. We work with several lenders that are very familiar with rural housing loans. If you are ready to get started finding your new home. We are ready to assist you. We are always just a call to 813-300-7116 or a click here away.