Housing Problems in Central Appalachia
Central Appalachia, one of the poorest areas of the country, encompasses 179 counties and city units in Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee and Virginia. The decline of mining and other extractive industries in the area have devastated the economy of a region already facing very high rates of poverty. Central Appalachia also has some of the worst housing conditions in the nation, and efforts to improve housing in the region are compounded by the isolation of many Appalachian communities.
Poverty rates in the region are overwhelming. The 1990 Census lists the national poverty rate as 12.8 percent, but the poverty rate for Central Appalachia was 19 percent.1 Kentucky and West Virginia had the highest rates of poverty in their Appalachian counties, with 28 and 20 percent below poverty, respectively. The Appalachian counties of Tennessee and Virginia had overall poverty rates of 16 percent. With such high rates of poverty, finding decent, affordable housing is a great challenge.
Homeownership rates are very high throughout Appalachia. 1990 Census data show that almost 74 percent of Central Appalachian households owned their homes, a greater rate than the 1999 national homeownership rate of almost 67 percent, and close to the 75 percent rate of homeownership in nonmetro areas nationwide.2 In Central Appalachia, 70 counties had homeownership rates greater than 78 percent, and of these, 40 counties had rates of ownership greater than 80 percent. Almost 15 percent of all occupied housing units in Appalachia were manufactured homes, compared to a rate of 6 percent for the entire nation. In Appalachia's nonmetro areas, 75 percent of these units were owner-occupied. The high rate of manufactured home occupancy accounts for nearly the entire difference between rates of homeownership in Appalachia and the rest of the country.3
The most common image of Appalachian housing is a small shack with a sagging porch, perched precariously on a hillside. While there have been significant improvements, substandard housing remains a serious problem.4 In 22 of Kentucky's Appalachian counties, over 10 percent of occupied housing units were in substandard condition in 1990. This means that 46 percent of Kentucky's Appalachian counties had serious problems with substandard housing. Even those who own their homes have difficulty keeping their units in good repair. Using more detailed measures than are found in the Census, the 1996 West Virginia Consolidated Plan classified over 70,000 owner-occupied units as substandard. Only 21,000 of these were assessed as suitable for rehabilitation.5 Typical are homes with no running water or indoor plumbing, crumbling foundations, sagging roofs, unsafe wiring, or no insulation. While the U.S. rate for substandard housing was 5.3 percent of all occupied units in 1990, over half (57 percent) of Central Appalachian counties had a higher percentage of substandard units. Many counties have very significant problems with substandard housing, with 16 percent of Central Appalachian counties having had greater than 10 percent of their housing stock in substandard condition as of 1990.
Housing cost burden, paying more than 30 percent of monthly income for housing costs, is a growing concern for many Appalachian households. This is especially true among renter households in the region. Nationally, 28.1 percent of all U.S. households were cost burdened in 1990. In the nation's rural areas, 21.1 percent of all households had housing cost burden, with 17.2 percent of rural owners and 35.8 percent of rural renters having this problem.6 Only 14.4 percent of Appalachian homeowners were cost-burdened, but 38.8 percent of Appalachian renters were in this situation. Over 40 percent of West Virginia and Kentucky renter households were cost-burdened.
Appalachia's housing needs remain significant to this day. On most housing measures, the region lags behind the nation, despite many efforts to improve the quality and affordability of housing in Appalachian states. For more information on Central Appalachian housing conditions and organizations working to improve housing opportunity in the region, contact the Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprises in Berea, KY at 606-986-2321 or the Appalachian Regional Commission in Washington, DC at 202-884-7700.
This Information Sheet was prepared by the Housing Assistance Council. The work that provided the basis for this publication was supported with funding from the Ford Foundation.
January 2001
1Unless otherwise noted, all data cited is derived from the 1990 Census.
2U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Housing Market Conditions, First Quarter 2000 (May 2000).
3Information provided by the West Virginia University Regional Research Institute.
4Researchers use Census data on housing units lacking complete plumbing or being overcrowded (more than one person per room) as indicators of substandard housing. Obviously, these measures do not reflect the full range of housing problems found in regions like Central Appalachia.
5Information provided by the Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprises.
6Rural areas are defined in the U.S. Census as places of less than 2,500 people, including rural portions of extended cities and areas outside incorporated places. Nonmetropolitan areas are places outside metropolitan areas. Metropolitan areas are defined as central cities with populations of at least 50,000 and their surrounding areas (generally counties) that are socially and economically integrated.