Why Housing Matters: Hac's 2000 Report On the State of the Nation's Rural Housing
As we enter the new millennium, the landscape of rural America has changed dramatically from the beginning of last century. In 1900, more
Why Housing Matters: Hac's 2000 Report On the State of the Nation's Rural Housing
As we enter the new millennium, the landscape of rural America has changed dramatically from the beginning of last century. In 1900, more than two-thirds of the nation's population resided in rural areas. In 2000, less than one-quarter do. Rural America's economy and lifestyle have changed as well. Traditional family farms and small town centers have been replaced by large corporate agriculture and strip malls. As the landscape of rural America has changed, so too have rural homes. For the most part these changes have been positive, as more rural residents have access to decent, safe, and more comfortable living environments than ever before. However, as documented in the following report, far too many rural Americans lack decent homes.
Housing matters. It is an important aspect of our lives and our society. As Tremblay and Dillman note in Beyond the American Housing Dream: "People spend much of their day in the confines of their homes; the home separates people from others; the home provides a place of retreat and replenishment.... It represents socioeconomic status in the eyes of the community, and housing costs demand a large piece of the family budget 