Rural Voices

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Cost for print copy: FIRST SUBSCRIPTION FREE, additional copies $16.00/year, $4.00/single copy
Magazine covering rural housing and development issues. Articles on current topics like green building, analyses of rural housing conditions around the country, and descriptions of solutions that work, written by the community-based rural housers who make them work. Published quarterly. 20-24 pages. ISSN 1093-8044.

 

Spring 2008: Losing the Dream - The Foreclosure Crisis in Rural America

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  • View from Washington: Efforts to Stem the Foreclosure Crisis
  • Minnesota Uses Statewide Strategies
  • Creating a Successful Foreclosure Prevention Program
  • Counseling Those in Need
  • A Look at Rural Foreclosures in Ohio
  • Foreclosure Hits Rural Communities Too

Winter 2008: Rehabilitating Affordable Rural Housing

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  • Rehab resources: Using HOME Funds for Homeowner Rehabilitation
  • Rehab resources: Basic Guide to Redon Mitigation in Existing Buildings
  • Rehab resources: USDA Section 504 HOME Rehabilitation Grants and Loans
  • We're Staying Put: Housing to Accommodate Consumer Preferences in an Aging Society
  • The Promise and Pitfalls of Housing and Rehabilitation
  • Weatherization Works in Alabama
  • Rural Rental Rehabilitation Helps Communities
  • Rural Oregon Rehabilitation Uses Green Building Strategies

Fall 2007: Making it Work: Combating Rural Homelessness

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  • View from Washington by Marcy Kinnaman
  • Shelter in the Desert: The Center for Family Solutions
  • Customizing Solutions for Rural Appalachia: Hazard Perry County Community Ministries
  • Harvest Time: Using HMIS to End Homelessness in Rural Michigan
  • Using Family to Fight Homelessness: The Millennium Center in Southwest Georgia
  • Working Towards a Common Goal: The Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless
  • Rural Revelations: The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Partners with Communities to End Rural Homelessness

Summer 2007: More Than Housing at Stake: Preserving Rural Rental Properties

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  • View from Washington by Tim Thompson
  • Preservation Barriers and Opportunities
  • USDA Has High Hopes for MPR
  • Section 538 Guaranteed Loans: A Resource to Help Preserve Section 515 Developments
  • State Agencies Dig Deep to Preserve Rural Properties
  • Tax Credits and Tiers: HoneyTree's Story
  • Working to Reverse Declining Rural Housing Markets in Iowa
  • Who You Gonna Call (To Finance Rural Preservation)

Spring 2007: Reinvesting in Rural Communities: Celebrating 30 Years of the Community Reinvestment Act

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  • A Primer on CRA
  • Financing Hope
  • Opening Doors in Rural Communities
  • Sharpening CRA for a New Era
  • If Not for CRA...
  • CRA at 30 and Rural Community Development
  • View from Washington by Barry Wides
  • From Bad to Worse: A Summary of Rural housing Provisions in the Proposed 2008 Budget

Conference 2006: Building Capacity, Building Homes

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  • Intermediary Roundtable on Capacity Building
  • HAC's Principles of Partnership
  • Capacity Building: Vision and Mission
  • Capacity Building: Leadership
  • Capacity Building: Resources
  • Capacity Building: Outreach and Community Support
  • Capacity Building: Products and Services
  • View from Washington by William Kenney


Summer 2006: Appalachia: Remembering the Past, Looking to the Future Download PDF Version

  • Growth Patterns and Rural Housing in Appalachia
  • Volunteers Work in Appalachia—ASP Style
  • The Ripple Effect: The Impact of Revolving CHDO Proceeds on Local Communities
  • When Poverty Collides with Affluence in Appalachia
  • Appalachian Ruin
  • The Evolution of the Nonprofit Housing Network in Central Appalachia
  • The View from Washington: Interviews with Appalachian Regional Commission Co-Chairs Anne B. Pope and Gov. Bob Taft


Spring 2006: CDBG Works for Rural Communities Download PDF Version

  • View From Washington: The State Community Development Block Grant Turns 25
  • Survey Shows Negative Effect of Cuts to CDBG
  • The Ultimate Recycling Project
  • CDBG Revitalizes Towns and Small Cities in Kentucky
  • Taking Steps to Assist Rural Communities
  • Creating Infrastructure in the Border Colonias
  • The Sunnybrooke Housing Production Project
  • Following a Roadmap to Community Success
  • "If Not for CDBG..."
  • A Profound Effect on A Small Community
  • A Towering Feat
  • Providing Shelter for Volunteers
  • From Last Resort to Safe Haven
  • Putting Meals on Wheels Into Action


Winter 2005-2006: After the Disaster: Rural Communities Respond Download PDF Version

  • Revisiting Buffalo Creek
  • From a Brownfield to a Brighter Future
  • Laying the Groundwork for Success
  • Homeland: Four Portraits of Native Action
  • Pulling Together: Rural and Urban Communities Respond
  • When Communities Own Their Way of Life and Shape Their Future
  • The View from Washington: HURRICANE KATRINA: FEDERAL POLICY UPDATE


Fall 2005: Rural Housing Goes Green Download PDF Version

  • Demystifying Green Building and its Cost
  • Green Communities Initiative Demonstrates
  • Challenges and Successes for Rural Developers
  • Getting Started on Green Affordable Housing
  • Green Building Techniques: Land Planning and Site Development
  • Green Building Techniques: Use of Materials
  • Green Building Techniques: Resource Conservation
  • Green Building Techniques: Energy Efficiency
  • Green Building Techniques: Healthy Homes


Summer 2005: Farmworker Housing: Turning Challenges into Successes Download PDF Version

  • Farm Labor Housing: An Overview
  • Farmworker Housing Summit Inspires Collaboration
  • From Services to Housing: Meeting the Needs of Midwest Farmworkers
  • Successful Farmworker Housing Goes Beyond Roofs and Walls
  • Rural Neighborhoods Learns Ways to House Unaccompanied Workers
  • Changing Partners: Shifting Paradigms in Housing
  • Jonathan Court: A Portrait of Patience and Perseverance


Spring 2005: Telling Our Story – Marketing Affordable Housing Download PDF Version

  • Understanding Public Opinion on Low-Income Housing: A Report from Recent Polling
  • Changing Perceptions and Fostering Ideas: Language and Communications Matter
  • Working to Change the Public’s Opinion of Affordable Housing: Minnesota Housing Partnership
  • Educating the Nation about Housing Needs: The Campaign for Affordable Housing
  • Developing a National Campaign about Rural Needs: Stand Up for Rural America
  • Advocating for Change: The Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina
  • Partnering to Recruit Residents and to Advocate for Affordable Housing: CHISPA
  • Showing Families the Possibilities: Marquette County Habitat for Humanity
  • Selling to Funders and Your Community: Stop Abusive Family Environments, Inc.
  • Humanizing the Issues: Enterprise Corporation of the Delta/Hope Community Credit Union
  • The View from Washington: RURAL AMERICA NEEDS CDBG


Winter 2004-2005: Preserving Rural Rental Housing Download PDF Version

  • The View from Washington: Preserving Rural America's Affordable Rental Housing: Current Issues
  • Rural Rental Housing – Comprehensive Property Assessment and Portfolio Analysis: Final Study Report
  • A Response to the Comprehensive Property Assessment
  • Owner Conversion of Rural Rental Properties to Market Rents: Both Tenants and Owners Turn to the Courts
  • Preservation and the Aging Portfolio: the Owners' Perspective
  • Preserving and Improving Rural Rental Housing: Promising Efforts Emerge
  • Rural Preservation and Resident-Based Advocacy
  • The State HFA Response to the Affordable Housing Preservation Challenge
  • Lessons from HUD's Preservation Process
  • Preserving RHS Rural Rental Properties – the Challenge and the Opportunity
  • Window of Opportunity: Preserving Affordable Rental Housing


Conference 2004: Lessons in Leadership Download PDF Version

  • Through Opportunity We Make Progress
  • Willing to Explore the Unknown
  • A Series of Remarkably Lucky Accidents
  • Demonstrate the Possibilities
  • Never a Resting Place
  • Becoming a Builder of Justice
  • Eight Challenges Facing Community Leaders
  • Where are the Leaders?


Summer 2004: Rural Infrastructure Download PDF Version
  • Progress and Peril
  • Possum Kingdom Water Supply
  • Providing Affordable, Reliable Electricity to Rural Nebraska
  • The Streets of Lindsay
  • A Rural Highway is a Place
  • KARTS: A Lifeline to Society
  • Reaching Rural America through Wireless Broadband
  • The View from Washington: An Overview of the USDA Rural Development Rural Development Utilities Service

Spring 2004: Native American Housing Download PDF Version
  • The View from Washington: Tribes Poised for Housing, Economic Growth
  • The View from Washington: Addressing Native American Housing Needs
  • Challenges in Indian Housing
  • Infrastructure Woes in Indian Country
  • Building Homeownership Institutions in Indian Country
  • Reaching the 'Possible Dream'...the Nonprofit Way
  • Innovative Asset-Building Programs on the Pine Ridge Reservation: A Conversation with Cindy Martin-Laiwa
  • Preparing New Homeowners: Some Challenges at Standing Rock
  • Building Tribal Coalitions: A Model from New Mexico
  • Expanding Affordable Housing on Tribal Lands Gets Easier
  • HUD Programs in Native American Areas
  • USDA Rural Development Programs in Native American Areas

Winter 2003-2004: Tax Credits & Rural Housing Download PDF Version
  • Overview: Tax Credits and Affordable Rural Housing
  • Building Credit in Washington State
  • Making Housing Credits Work in Kentucky
  • CROWN: Providing Homeownership Opportunities in Utah
  • Low-Income Housing Tax Credits for Rent-to-Own Projects in Maryland
  • Historic Tax Credits: Making Adaptive Reuse Work
  • The View from Washington: A Homeownership Tax Credit: An Opportunity for Rural America

Fall 2003: Self-Help Housing Download PDF Version
  • The View From Washington: USDA's Self-Help Program, Past and Present
  • The California Beginnings of USDA Self-Help Housing
  • USDA Self-Help Expands in New Jersey
  • Regional Contractors Provide Essential Assistance for USDA Self-Help Housing
  • Fulfilling Goals in Arkansas
  • People Are Counting on Us in Washington
  • Changing Lives in Ohio
  • From Challenges to Opportunities in Florida
  • Beyond Self-Help: A New Beginning for Colonias Residents
  • The Appalachian Approach to Self-Help
  • Building Dreams on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
  • Serving Rural Communities: Habitat for Humanity's Rural Housing Initiative

Summer 2003: Manufactured Housing In Rural America Download PDF Version
  • Rural America's Housing Of Choice? Exploring Manufactured Housing's Growing Role
  • Manufacturing Affordability
  • Planners Help to Integrate Manufactured Housing
  • Research Identifies Problems in Manufactured Home Financing System
  • Manufactured Housing Can Serve Older Persons
  • No Longer a Secret: The Manufactured Housing Sector Can Create Long-Term Value for Homeowners
  • Appalachian Manufactured Housing Experience Raises Concerns
  • Coachella Valley Mobile Home Parks Transformed
  • New Resources for Rural Housing

Spring 2003: Homeownership Education & Counseling Download PDF Version
  • Whither Homeownership Education and Counseling? An Overview
  • Partnerships and Technology Expand Homeownership Counseling Opportunities
  • Keeping a Grip on the American Dream: Counseling Before and After Purchase Helps Homebuyers
  • USDA Rural Development Teams with Others to Offer Homebuyer Education in Virginia
  • NCALL Combines Counseling with Financial Assistance for First-Time Buyers in Delaware
  • Homebuyer Education Benefits Ripple Throughout Appalachian Counties
  • Counseling Helps ROI Address Critical Farmworker Housing Needs
  • Understanding: The Key to Meeting Financial Education Needs in the Colonias
  • Rural Housing Funding Decided for 2003, Proposed for 2004

Fall/Winter 2002: Rural Housing & Health Download PDF Version
  • Coordinated Health and Housing Services Work in Rural Kentucky
  • Promotoras and Environmental Health Awareness in the Colonias
  • Health and Housing: Danger Lurks at Home in Indian Country
  • Improving the Lives of Agricultural Workers
  • Hard to Reach: Rural Homelessness and Health Care
  • Coming to Grips with Lead-Based Paint
  • Creating Affordable Allergen-Free Housing: What Rural Developers Need to Know
  • View From Washington: Appropriations and Authorizations Stalled in Congress
  • HAC Board Member Profiles: Joe Debro and Richard Lincoln

Summer 2002: Rural Housing Production Download PDF Version
  • Why Rural America Needs New Affordable Housing
  • Excerpts from Meeting Our Nation's Housing Challenges: The Report of the Millennial Housing Commission
  • Congress Must Provide Solutions to the Affordable Housing Crisis
  • Campaign for a National Housing Trust Fund Moving Forward
  • State and Local Housing Trust Funds Boost Rural Housing Opportunities
  • Bush Proposes "Renewing the Dream" for 100,000 Low-Income Homebuyers
  • Affordable Housing for Rural America: The Rural Rental Housing Act
  • Local Housing Trust Fund Plus Collaboration Equals Affordable Housing in Napa Valley
  • Section 515 Remains the Best Choice for Rural Rental Production
  • Q&A with Art Garcia, Rural Housing Service Administrator
  • YouthBuild USA Rural Initiative: Rebuilding Communities, Transforming Lives
  • HAC Board Member Profiles: Patricia Irene Acuna and Charles B. Davis

Spring 2002: Predatory Lending Download PDF Version

  • The Myths of Subprime Lending
  • Lending in Iowa's Rural Communities
  • In Over Our Heads: Profiles in Predatory Lending
  • Defining Predatory Lending
  • Homeownership and Predatory Lending: A Rude Awakening from the American Dream
  • Promising Dreams, Delivering Nightmares: How One Community Fought Back
  • Sweating the Equity: Unscrupulous Lenders Prey on Older Homeowners
  • Taking a Strong Stance Against Predatory Lending
  • Many a Strong Stance Against Predatory Lending
  • Many Programs, Little Help: The Farm Bill and Rural Community Development


Winter 2001-2002: Get Smart? Growth, Development and Rural Housing Download PDF Version

  • Why Smart Growth Matters to Rural Communities
  • Sustainable Deveopment for Rural Communities
  • Informing the Smart Growth Debate
  • Smart Growth: More Choices for Rural Development
  • What Smart Growth Management Does for Affordable Housing in Florida
  • Promoting Responsible Growth in Colorado
  • Smart Growth in Rural California
  • Farmworker Housing and Smart Growth Policies in Oregon


Fall 2001: Celebrating 30 Years of Building Rural Communities Download PDF Version

  • Population Change in Rural and Small Town America, 1970-2000
  • Thirty Years on the Front Lines
  • The More Things Change . . .
  • Thirty Years of Supporting Affordable Housing in Rural Communities
  • Then and Now: Early HAC Staff Remember HAC's Beginnings
  • Some Things Haven't Changed: Recalling HAC's Second Loan
  • A Thirty-Year Retrospective View from Washington


Summer 2001: Faith-Based Initiatives and Housing Development Download PDF Version

  • Support for the Armies of Compassion
  • Concerns About the President's Faith-based Initiative: Opening Public Coffers
  • Faith in Action: Faith-based or Inspired by Faith?
  • AAHSA Members' Faith-based Housing and Services for the Elderly
  • The B'nai B'rith Senior Housing Program
  • A Collaborative Faith-based Initiative
  • The Challenges of Housing and Conservation
  • Some Myths of Faith-based Enterprise
  • 'Little Washington' Has a Big Faith-based Housing and Economic Development Agency
  • A History of Collaboration


Winter 2000-2001: Why Housing Matters Download PDF Version

  • Why Housing Matters
  • Why Housing Matters to Children's Well-Being
  • Why Housing Matters to Farmworker Health
  • Why Housing Matters to Employment and Welfare Reform
  • Why Housing Providers Matter to Employment and Welfare Reform
  • Why Housing Matters to Economic Development
  • Rural Poverty: Treading Water as the Economy Booms
  • "My Community"


Fall 2000: Lessons from Disasters Download PDF Version

  • Building Safe Communities from the Ground Up
  • Design and Construction Can Help Rural Homes Avoid Wind Damage
  • Kentucky Agency Learns Disaster Recovery on the Job
  • Lessons for Rural Infrastructure from the Flood of the Century
  • North Carolina Disaster Recovery: Lessons Learned


Summer 2000: Policy & Rural Housing Download PDF Version

  • Congressional Rural Caucus to Speak Out for Rural America
  • Campaign Works to Raise Housing Issues in Election
  • Rethinking Business Policy for the Housing Industry
  • All Policy Becomes Local: How Federal Policy Impacts Rural Housing in California
  • New York State Coalition Changes With the Times
  • State and Local Policies Tackle Utah's Shortage of Affordable Rural Housing
  • Understanding Smart Growth


Spring 2000: Initiatives in the Mississippi Delta Download PDF Version

  • A New Commitment to Rural America
  • Excerpts from Remarks by President Clinton
  • Delta Compact Seeks Collaboration for Change
  • Delta 2000 Initiative Focuses Administration's Activities
  • Delta Caucus Brings Local Leaders Together to Request Federal Support
  • Foundation for the Mid South Provides Funds and Convenes Partnerships
  • Kellogg Foundation's Mid South Delta Initiative Funds Community Development
  • Mid South Delta LISC Helps Local Groups Produce Development Successes
  • Technology Project Begins To Build Delta Communications
  • Q&A With James C. Kearney


Winter 1999-2000: Developing Organizations and Leaders Download PDF Version

  • First Things First: The Important Role of Organization Development in Community Building
  • Women as Catalysts for Social Change
  • Degree Program Helps Develop Rural Leaders
  • The Journey to the Emerald City: Musings and Observations on the State of Rural Philanthropy
  • Moving Toward Economic Empowerment: The Bank of America Rural 2000 Initiative
  • Celebrating Ten Years of AHP


Fall 1999

  • On the Frontier in Ferry County: Housing People with Special Needs
  • State Helps Fund Rental Housing for Rural Missourians
  • HUD and Congress Remember HUD's "Forgotten Housing Stock"
  • Some Facts About Rural Rental Housing


Summer 1999

  • Rural Midwest Housing Reality Is Complex and Diverse
  • East Central Kansas Group Succeeds in Providing Much-Needed Rental Housing
  • A Decent Home: The Background and Early Beginnings of the Housing Act of 1949
  • The Evolution of Modern Rural Mutual Self-Help Housing


Spring 1999

  • A Place for Everyone
    • 1998 National Rural Housing Conference Draws Good Reviews
    • Awards Honor Rural Housers
    • Art Contest Winners Illustrate "A Place for Everyone"
  • Freddie Mac, ROI and Others Create Rural Affordable Housing Alliance
  • Mapping Help Available for Nonprofits: CL-ICD and Community 2020 Make Mapping Easier, Clearer


Winter 1998-1999

  • Rental Housing Helps Family to Own a Home After Once Having No Place to Live
  • National Standards Under Development by American Homeowner Education and Counseling Institute
  • Q&A with Robert Friedman


Summer 1998

  • An Overview of the Fair Housing Movement
  • California Uses a Patchwork of Laws to Tackle NIMBY Issues
  • Persistence Pays: Casa of Oregon Overcomes NIMBY to Develop Farm Labor Housing
  • Q&A with Eva Plaza
  • Rural America Celebrates National Homeownership Week


Spring 1998

  • State Housing Trust Funds Find Ways to Serve Rural Communities
  • Collaborative Application Process Helps Rural Iowa Developers Combine Funding Sources
  • Oklahoma Targets Analysis and Funds for Affordable Rural Housing
  • Welfare Reform Begins in Rural Minnesota


Winter 1997-98

  • Housing as Economic Development
  • First Steps: Moving from Housing to Community Economic Development
  • Q&A with Nicolas P. Retsinas
  • Rural Housing and Welfare Reform: An Excerpt from HAC's 1997 Report on the State of the Nation's Rural Housing


Fall 1997

  • Housing Nonprofits Working Effectively with State Housing Finance Agencies--Everybody Wins
  • Administrative Funding from New York State Enables Nonprofits to Improve Rural Housing
  • Management Gurus Help Nonprofits Build Skills
  • New Internet Site Offers Nonprofits a Better Way to Recruit Managers


Summer 1997

  • National Homeownership Week: Making the American Dream a Reality
  • Rural Americans Celebrate National Homeownership Week
  • CROWN: Investing in Rural Utah
  • Leave No One Behind: Providing Housing to People Living with AIDS in Rural Areas
  • States Submit Welfare Reform Plans


Spring 1997

  • Welfare reform and rural housing
  • Welfare reform's impact on women
  • Welfare reform in Georgia
  • Welfare and immigration reforms' impact on RHS programs
  • Remembering George W. Rucker


Winter 1996-97

  • The Federal Home Loan Bank System
  • Q&A with Bruce Morrison, Chairman of the Federal Housing Finance Board
  • Mutual help loans for homeownership in Alaska
  • Partnerships to develop housing in Iowa
  • Report on HAC's December 1996 conference
  • Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996


Fall 1996
  • HAC's SHOP loan program for homeownership
  • Tax credits, rural banks, and nonprofits develop homes in Tennessee
  • Q&A with Jill Long Thompson, USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development
  • New state funds in California
  • Housing issues in the Lower Mississippi Delta
  • FY'97 RHS appropriations
  • Plans for HAC's 25th Anniversary conference


Summer 1996
  • RHS partnerships to increase homeownership
  • Housing conditions in central Appalachia
  • Habitat II provided global housing answers
  • Prospects for the 1997 Budget


Spring 1996

  • Money-saving construction methods
  • Self-help homeownership in Texas colonias
  • Vermont's statewide development system
  • Water and sewer systems build communities
  • New Community Reinvestment Act regulations
  • Changes in RHS Rules
  • Preparing for HAC's 25th anniversary conference
  • New federal programs and new budget


Winter 1995-1996

  • HAC's first 25 years
  • Bankruptcy as a solution to colonias problems
  • Rural information highway
  • Building Indian housing in underserved areas
  • Changes proposed in housing authorizations


Fall 1995

  • Providing migrant farmworker housing
  • Self-help housing
  • Section 502 and private sector mortgages
  • HOME/tax credit development in Mississippi
  • Update on federal legislation