Affordable Housing Month 2025

The month of May is Affordable Housing Month. Rural Resurrection continues to look at ways to help communities to provide safe, decent, affordable housing.

For the past few years, I have brought attention to Affordable Housing Month as the housing crisis has gotten so bad that some are calling it an “epidemic”. Although rural areas were once relatively immune to the issue, the problem of affordable housing is now impacting rural communities as well.

Not only are the high costs of materials and labor impacting small communities but so are the distances. The economic pull of the big box home improvement stores in larger towns has ended many small-town lumberyards. Contractors and homeowners in rural communities now have to drive farther for building materials, further increasing the costs to rural residents.

Even if the material supply issues are resolved, or at least handled, the availability of labor is increasingly problematic. Rural areas have a limited supply of contractors that can build housing from start to finish. Those who are available typically take higher-end jobs that have greater profit margins. Compounding the problem is a growing labor shortage in trade careers. Recent statistics show that “between 2020 and 2022, the rate at which Gen Z applied for trade careers dropped a staggering 49% compared to prior generations at the same age.”

That’s why Affordable Housing Month is increasingly important in rural communities throughout the United States.

Past Posts on Housing

5 Modular Homes for Midwest Infill Housing Development

Infill development is critical to many small towns for a variety of reasons. One possible solution is modular units for infill housing. Here are five modular homes that fit better in older, narrower, lots that can help with infill housing development.

What is the Housing Supply Accelerator?

The National League of Cities (NLC) and the American Planning Association (APA) are partnering on the Housing Supply Accelerator. What is it?

Main Street’s Housing Guidebook for Local Leaders

The Main Street’s Housing Guidebook for Local Leaders is a veritable treasure trove of information about housing. Throughout this housing guidebook there are examples of how communities have successfully made downtown housing work.

Whether it’s the information gathered from the guidebook or further discussions with one of the communities in the spotlight, it should be fruitful for your own community.

AARP Helping with Missing Middle Housing

Missing Middle Housing is a hot topic right now, as the lack of affordable housing is an especially problematic issue across the United States. AARP has jumped on the subject of Missing Middle Housing as well. To help communities in need of more housing types, AARP has developed two new informational booklets on the topic.

Inmates Helping to Meet Affordable Housing Demand

The Newton Correctional Facility in Newton, Iowa, is helping out in its own way. They are participating in a new program called Homes for Iowa. Administered by Iowa’s Prison Industries, Homes for Iowa is working to help the affordable housing issue in their own way.

Under the program, inmates are paid $1 an hour to help build affordable homes. The low wage paid to inmates lowers the overhead costs of producing housing. The houses constructed are then sold at an affordable price.

Funding is Available

The National Housing Conference has a page on its website specifically dedicated to federal rural housing programs. It is mainly a set of links to USDA Rural Development programs, but it is a good list that includes rental and homeownership programs.

Don’t Stop

Housing affordability has always been an issue, but it will only get worse without significant, regular attention and proactive actions. Use Housing Affordability Month to draw attention to the issue and start the conversation.