RURAL RENTAL HOUSING

“Living in a good environment where hope could flourish is the most significant contribution of affordable rental housing . . .”

According to one roundtable panelist, finding affordable rental housing often means settling for a unit that is in serious disrepair. Substandard housing has long been an issue of great concern for rural residents and affordable housing providers. Leaking roofs, inadequate heating systems, and peeling paint that is often lead-based are all too common housing problems in many rural communities. By all estimates, the quality of rural housing has improved in recent years. There are still a tremendous number of rural housing units that are need of repair or rehabilitation, however.

AHS classifies inadequate units as those having moderate to severe housing problems. ¹⁵ Currently 2.6 million rural homes are either moderately or severely inadequate; 932,000 (35 percent) of these inadequate units are rental housing. This is much higher than the rental housing proportion of the total occupied rural housing stock, 24 percent. Ten percent of all rural renter households live in moderately or severely inadequate housing, compared to 6 percent of rural homeowner households (Table 4).

Total Owner-Occupied Units	28,222,000
% Inadequate Owner-Occupied Housing Units	6%
Total Rental Units	8,956,000
% Inadequate Rental Units	10%

Rural rental units generally have more quality problems than do urban or suburban rental units. Among the 932,000 rural rental units with physical problems, the most common problems include:

Rural households experiencing worst case needs are more likely to live in inadequate units than households nationally. Overall, 19 percent of rural worst case renters live in housing that is at least moderately inadequate, and 10 percent live in severely inadequate housing. As Figure 9 shows, rural worst case renters experience physical problems such as cracks in walls, rats, and leaks, much more often than these are experienced nationally. These households are also much less likely to have access to necessities, such as complete plumbing systems, and amenities, such as washing machines. Housing conditions are also more extreme for worst case renters than they are for rural renters in general. For example, while only 1 percent of rural renters lack a complete bathroom, almost 4 percent of all rural worst case households do.

Using housing codes to address these structural deficiencies was discussed at the Kansas City roundtable. Code enforcement would allow rural municipalities to require landlords to correct these problems, thus creating a decent, safe living environment for rural renters. It was noted that many rural towns have limited housing codes, if any at all. And, participants agreed that most small, rural townships have budget constraints that make code enforcement fiscally impossible.