It’s not just people living in dense urban cores who are struggling to find affordable housing. About half of poor rural Americans spend more than half of their income on housing expenses.
Curbed reports that substantial cuts in government funding for housing have rattled homeowners in smaller, poorer areas.
Over the last 30 years, the government has reduced subsidies for renters, and has scrapped programs like Section 515, which funded the construction of rural rental housing.
There is potentially some help on the way. Senators Orrin Hatch and Maria Cantwell have pushed a bill, the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, that would expand the LIHTC by 50 percent, in a bid to help spur more affordable housing construction across the nation, including rural areas... As housing and rental issues become more prevalent, that the bill is considered next year, and more attention it turned to funding additional support.
