Tomas Billicki, 2, sits on his porch in Thompsonville, Mich. His mother Corina will help build the family's Habitat house, and they should be in their new home by Christmas.

(United States Rural Poverty Housing continued)

High rates of poverty/affordability
"Housing quality problems have improved considerably in rural America over the last 50 to 75 years, and affordability has become a far more serious issue than it once was," Loza says. "People tend to think that since rural areas have lower housing costs than cities, housing must be affordable--but incomes are lower in rural areas, too. The use of mobile (manufactured) homes as 'affordable' housing is also rising. Some of the newest manufactured homes are extremely high quality, but the ones that low-income rural residents can afford are more likely to be older, smaller, less well-built, and sited without a permanent foundation or proper water and sewer hookups."

Transportation--or the lack thereof--plays a key role in rural life. Few rural towns operate a public transportation system; major employers may pull in employees from comparatively distant counties. A reliable car may be a luxury in large urban environments but a necessity in rural areas. "People often leave the rural areas for work," says Starr Mayer, director of Habitat for Humanity International's Rural Initiative. "Or they moved to rural areas from the places they worked trying to find affordable land and property. So, many people drive long distances to their place of employment. But in the last five years or so, there are so many people at higher income levels trying to buy up land for second homes, for retirement, for weekend homes that the prices have gone sky-high and the availability has dipped."

Faced with the multiple challenges of rising housing costs, increased demand for land suitable for construction and stagnant wages, rural Habitat affiliates have had to dig deep for innovative ways to provide opportunities for low-income homeownership. Phelps Area Habitat for Humanity in McCarr, Ky., has succeeded in partnering with groups of students, church members and residents of other cities across North America. Each week throughout the spring and summer, a different group comes to build, bringing with it fresh enthusiasm and a donation that covers the cost of materials and sustains the affiliate through the slower winter months.

Rockbridge Area HFH has made progress in Lexington, Va., by pursuing grants for infrastructure and reaching out to Washington and Lee University, local churches and individuals in the community.

"Success in rural areas is dependent in part on being creative and finding ways to partner with existing churches and individuals," Walz says. "It's working with various groups at churches, maintaining a presence with local media, advocating with local municipalities. All this leads to a deeper understanding and awareness of Habitat, which is where the success lies."

One constant remains, whether the context is the hills of Appalachia or the desert plains of the Southwest: The need for rural housing is urgent. And despite the complexity of the causes of rural housing need, Habitat's solution--no-interest mortgages, sweat equity and partnership between affiliate and family--is tried and true.

"No matter the setting or the age in which we live, Habitat's concept is always needed and contemporary," Mayer says. "For rural affiliates the challenge is to find every resource--whether people or land or dollars or ideas.