Small communities, rural states are learning about housing development through a program that targets vacant lots

Empty lots like the one above present an opportunity 

to bring affordable housing to areas

 in need. (The Quiet Atlas, Unsplash.com)

Vacant lots across America have been left to grow out of control, collect trash thrown from cars driving by, to be used by neighborhood kids for pickup baseball, or just sit empty with the occasional for sale sign as decoration. But Andrew McKeever reports in The Daily Yonder about an initiative that seeks to use vacant lots toward solving the housing shortage in rural communities.

Housing officials in several states are studying a tool known as “Gentle Infill.” It helps develop partnerships between local non-profits, construction companies and regulators to build small, affordable housing that fits into the character of a neighborhood and avoids the common “Nimby” — not in my backyard — response.

The largely rural state of Vermont, McKeever reports, and other states, are taking a cue from the city of South Bend, IN, which has adopted the approach for several years. Tim Corcoran, director of planning and community resources in South Bend, said the effort has experienced more than just a little success. He said the city worked with small-scale builders and developers, guiding them through zoning and other problems, and even helping create a set of architectural designs.

“If you’re really genuine about helping address the housing crisis in your town,” Corcoran told McKeever,  “then you really need to look at the approval process very closely.” He said bringing together regulators and breaking down silos is key.

Vermont has a goal of building 30,000 homes by 2030. While there are obstacles, The Yonder reports, there is “near-universal agreement that more affordable workforce-missing middle housing is needed.” The statewide approach mirrors the one in South Bend. Teams have been scouring the state for three years looking for available lots, and they have adopted a plan called “Homes for All.” It streamlines approval processes for small-scale builders and developers and intends to offer pre-permitted designs in a variety of forms.

Thousands of rural homes could become unaffordable for tenants as Section 515 phases out

Finding affordable rural housing has been a long-term
problem for residents. (Photo via Insight News)

A federal housing program that has supported affordable housing since 1963 is being phased out, leaving "half a million rural homes at risk," writes Brian Y. An, a public policy expert at the Georgia Institute of Technology, for Insight News, which serves the greater Minneapolis area. As Section 515 mortgages get paid off, landowners no longer have to guarantee lower rental costs.

While many Americans may see affordable rents as a more urban problem, finding and affording rental housing in rural areas has also been a long-term challenge, which the USDA sought to mitigate with incentivized loan programs like Section 515.

By offering below-market interest rates, Section 515 attracted private and nonprofit developers to "build and manage residential housing for low-income residents in small towns and rural counties," An explains. "Since its inception, the program has supported the construction of over 533,000 apartments, townhouses and other small, multifamily rental homes."

In 2011, the USDA stopped issuing Section 515 loans, which means the majority of properties built with Section 515 financing will mature by 2045. Once a Section 515 property is paid off, its owners can set their own rents, sell the property or end current home leases. An adds, "Because of this flexibility, a large share of rural affordable housing units could soon be converted to properties rented at market rates."

Rentals owned by nonprofits are the least likely to convert low-rent to market-rate rent. An writes, "Nonprofit-owned buildings. . . are 30% to 40% less likely to convert formerly Section 515 affordable housing into market-rate properties after the owners pay off their loans."

Washington lawmakers are working to address the gradual end to rural housing support through Section 515 rentals. The bipartisan Rural Housing Service Reform Act serves as an example. An explains, "It would modernize USDA rural housing programs and allow certain rental assistance contracts to continue after mortgages mature. As of early 2026, the bill remains under consideration."

Quick hits: The American baked potato; rural deputies get EMS training; 6 states ban lab-grown meat sales; building homes in small town Vermont

American-grown potatoes are still affordable and 
delicious. (Idaho Potato Commission photo)

In a time when going to the grocery store can be both expensive and discouraging, it's good for Americans to reignite their love for the humble, versatile and still affordable baked potato. "The baked potato has always been big and great," writes Eric Kim of The New York Times. "These days, a long Idaho tuber, split down the middle like a hot dog bun to reveal fluffy white starch, a pat of butter nestled into the left side, is still big and — more important — great, with its perfect creamy-crunchy-fresh combo of sour cream, chives, cheese and bacon." Find recipes here. 

A rural sheriff in Montana is working to help the region's emergency responders by using "some of his department’s budget to restart a first responder medical training and certification program for deputies to be able to supplement emergency medical providers and help provide care when they are first to the scene of an incident," reports Blair Miller of the Helena Independent Record. Often, when accidents occur in rural Montana, law enforcement arrives well before medical emergency teams. In his announcement, Sheriff Tom Grim said he believes that if deputies could provide medical assistance to victims before an ambulance arrives, their additional training could save lives. 

Six states have passed laws banning cultivated meat.
(Graphic by Adam Dixon, Offrange)

Where's the meat? According to several states, only animals are meat. "Livestock powerhouse Nebraska became the sixth state to preemptively ban the sale of cultivated meat," reports Jaclyn De Candio for Offrange. Nebraska joined the "beef with cultivated meat" by joining states that already ban the sale of lab-grown meat, including Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Montana and Indiana. "Florida was the first to pass such a law, and in several cases, companies like UPSIDE Foods already filed lawsuits challenging these restrictions on constitutional and commerce grounds. . . . While laboratory meat products are indeed made from real cattle cells, they give pause to many."

Power grids across the country need upgrades, and areas of the Midwest will get them. "The Department of Energy closed a $1.6 billion loan guarantee for transmission upgrades in the middle of the country — a move that comes as the Trump administration slashes funding for other grid improvements, including a separate transmission megaproject in the Midwest," reports Alexander C. Kaufman of Canary Media. The financing will enable a subsidiary of American Electric Power to "overhaul around 5,000 miles of power lines across Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, and West Virginia."

A bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken may be a game-day crowd-pleaser, but the chain has been struggling against competitors that offer on-the-go chicken. "Consumers eat 26% of their fast-food orders in their cars," reports Heather Haddon of The Wall Street Journal. To recapture its market share, the company is revamping its menu to compete with newcomers like Chick-fil-A and Canes. "KFC this month brought back its Original Honey BBQ sandwich, introduced in the late 1990s, at a discounted $3.99 price. The announcement swiped at Chick-fil-A while championing its own sandwich: 'bigger than Chick-fil-A’s AND available on Sundays.'"

Jonah Richard’s first development project was once home to a post office. It now consists of eight apartments and a coffee shop. (Photo by David Littlefield, Vermont Public Media)

Despite the daunting challenges of building affordable housing in New England, a homegrown Vermonter found a way to get it done. "Not so long ago, Jonah Richard spent his days working for a white-collar consulting firm in New York City. Now, he fills his time bopping between construction sites in the corner of Vermont where he grew up," reports Carly Berlin of vtdigger. "His philosophy of trying to squeeze more housing into any possible nook and cranny in a building, and in a town – guides all of the projects that Richard takes on through his small construction company and development business. . . . State officials want to clone Jonah Richard."

Mobile home dwellers in rural desert towns face extreme temperatures

Photo by Patrick Reichboth,Unsplash

Extreme heat in the summer and cold in the winter pose risks for mobile home residents in Madras, a rural desert town in Oregon, Claire Carlson of The Daily Yonder reported. 

Data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) shows that 15% of houses in rural areas are manufactured or mobile homes.

Because many of the homes are old, they are often “less energy efficient and can have issues like mold and other dangerous health hazards,” Carlson wrote.

These poor living conditions can be deadly: 20% of deaths during the 2021 heat dome in Oregon were among mobile home residents. And it is only expected to get worse with climate change.

Nonprofits such as the Energy Trust in Oregon help to replace old, manufactured homes with new ones built to withstand the extreme temperatures.

However, according to Professor Patricia Solís from Arizona State University, “there are probably around 175,000 mobile and manufactured homes that are older in the state that need to have some kind of weatherization done to it.”

She believes the solution lies in tackling two issues: the affordable housing crisis and climate change. But it would require government investment in building more manufactured homes. 

Solís’ reasoning is that manufactured homes are less expensive, would provide affordable housing and can be outfitted with energy-efficient technology to adapt to the climate. 

A housing program for working Americans is in 'political limbo'; more than 40% of its builds were in rural places

A new home built in Owsley County, Ky. with HOME
funding. (Partnership Housing, Ky., photo)

Since the 1990s, grants from the HOME Investment Partnership have helped fill financial gaps, so more affordable housing is available for working Americans. But the program's funding isn't included in the new federal budget, and its future remains uncertain.

The loss of HOME's investment in communities would be particularly painful for "Appalachian towns and rural counties where government aid is sparse and investors are few," report Charlotte Kramon, Jesse Bedayn, Michaela Herbst and Aaron Kessler of The Associated Press. Over the past 30 years, the program has "helped build or repair more than 1.3 million affordable homes of which at least 540,000 were in congressional districts that are rural or significantly rural."

Even though the program has spent more than $35 billion helping to address the country's affordable housing crisis, "a spokesperson for HUD, which administers the program, said HOME isn’t as effective as other programs where the money would be better spent," AP reports. Some Senate Republicans are working to save the program by including it in their draft budgets.

Despite the program's effectiveness in some regions, it is often criticized for its cumbersome red tape. Kramon adds, "A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is working to reduce HOME’s notorious red tape that even proponents say slows construction."

Meanwhile, its future remains in political crosshairs, where it is needed by working Americans, but is easier for lawmakers to eliminate without drawing public ire. Kramon explains, "HOME is an easier target than programs such as vouchers because most people would not immediately lose their housing."

If HOME funding is axed or even drastically cut, places like rural Owsley County, Kentucky, will feel it. "Affordable homes are needed there, but tough to build in a region that doesn’t attract larger-scale rental developments that federal dollars typically go toward," AP reports. "Partnership Housing in Owsley has relied on the program to build the majority of its affordable homes for at least a dozen years."

Heirs' property can leave family members with 'tangled titles' that limit wealth and contribute to rural housing shortages

A home, right, Rural Studio helped build on heirs’ property 
in Ala. (Photo by Timothy Hursley, Auburn University, CC BY-SA)

Imagine being born into a family that had settled land and passed it down from generation to generation for the past few decades. “Several of your relatives already live on the land, and you’d like to do the same, but you can’t get a loan to build or renovate a home without permission from all the relatives who also share ownership,” write Jennifer Pindyck, Christian Ayala Lopez and Rusty Smith for The Conversation. “At any moment, another heir could sell their share, triggering a court-ordered sale that could force you off the land.”

This shared ownership is an example of “heirs’ property: land passed down informally, without clear wills or deeds, which results in a ‘tangled’ or ‘clouded’ title,” researchers Pindyck, Lopez and Smith explain. “It’s more common than you might think in the U.S., especially in rural areas, and it presents significant challenges to long-term housing stability.”

Historically, property owners would leave their lands without “clear will or deed” because their region lacked legal services or the original owners didn’t trust the legal system. “Once the land is passed down to the next generation, the heirs are known as ‘tenants in common,’ meaning they own an undivided interest in the entire property,” they write, “As the property continues to pass down from generation to generation, the number of tenants in common increases exponentially.”

When a couple passes down land to their children – and then those people pass it down to their kids – the number of heirs dramatically increases. (Illustration by Auburn University, CC BY-SA)

After decades of sharing, property ownership can become a complex arrangement that opens all its tenants to potential homelessness. “Any tenant in common can sell their share to an outside party. These outside parties – either individuals or companies – can then request a court to order what’s called a partition by sale, which can push every other owner off the land,” Pindyck, Lopez and Smith explain. Some family members have sold their share of a property to real estate developers, unaware that their sale could trigger the loss of the entire estate.

Several organizations are working on heirs’ property resolutions, which can include “clearing titles, establishing shared land agreements and teaching landowners how to avoid having their property fall into a tangled title situation,” Pindyck, Lopez and Smith write. “The Florida Housing Coalition, Housing Assistance Council and the Alabama Heirs Property Alliance are actively engaged in community education, legal support, data mapping and policy advocacy.”

The Rural Studio assists heirs’ property tenants by using a “build first strategy,” they write. “Using funds from research grants and donations, we simply start building on heirs’ properties with the permission of families. In the process, we show that if tangled titles were no longer an obstacle, much more housing could be built. . . . One of our recent Rural Studio projects is the 18x18 House, a compact, multistory home built for a young man living on heirs’ property in Alabama.”

Pindyck, Lopez and Smith are Auburn University researchers and Rural Studio collaborators who study heirs’ property and “its role in shaping housing access. Based in Hale County, Alabama, Rural Studio has completed more than 200 projects – many of them homes built on heirs’ property – providing critical housing for families facing complex land ownership challenges.” 

Rural homeownership history includes Sears catalog homes. Thousands still stand today.

Modern reproduction of Sears catalog house in Battle Ground,
Indiana. (Photo by Rosemary Thornton, Wikimedia via the Yonder)

Beginning in the early 1900s, many rural Americans built their homes with construction kits from Sears, the former catalog sales giant. "Between 1908 and 1942, Sears sold some 70,000 customizable home kits across the country through the company’s Modern Home catalog," reports Pat Raia of The Daily Yonder.

Sears kit homes were particularly popular in the Midwest, including "Illinois, Ohio and Missouri, and almost all of them were located in rural or suburban areas," Raia writes. While the build-your-own-home kit appealed to consumers who wanted to save on labor costs, purchasing everything from one source was especially convenient for rural customers who could live long distances from construction suppliers.

The Sears catalog offered kits that included "a sketch of the house, a floor plan, and a basic cost that ranged from $360 to more than $2,000," Raia writes. Once purchased, Sears would send an initial "boxcar containing pieces to get the kit home buyer started. Subsequent deliveries would contain materials for each remaining phase of the construction."

The kits served a dual economic function, providing a path for homeownership and boosting the local economies. Sears Homes Chicagoland blogger Lara Solonickne told Raia, "Many customers had help building the houses from local carpenters and other tradesmen. By the early 1930s, few customers were building the homes by themselves."

Despite being built in stages by people with varying degrees of home construction expertise, many Sears-kit homes are still standing. Raia adds, "Judith Chabot, a researcher who authenticates Sears kit homes, said that there are more than 18,668 on the National List of Sears kit homes still standing around the U.S., and there are likely even more."

While kit-built homes may lack some conveniences newer homes offer, today's purchasers choose them for their unique history and sound construction.

Rural housing support is on the chopping block. Proposal would cut billions from programs rural residents use.

The proposed budget would cut many USDA housing
programs that help rural Americans. (Adobe photo)

 

President Trump's newly released federal budget proposal cuts billions from rural housing support programs. "If adopted by Congress, key Department of Agriculture rural development and housing programs would be completely eliminated," reports Joe Belden for The Daily Yonder. "Major Housing and Urban Development programs that are important in rural areas also would get zero dollars next year, and many social safety net programs would be cut."

Similar cuts were suggested and rejected during Trump's first term, but this Congress may think differently.

The new budget ends funding for the 502 loan program, which has existed since the 1950s, and has helped "2.2 million low-income rural families to become homeowners," Belden writes.

Trump's 2026 budget cuts billions in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development disbursements by ending financial support for Community Development Block Grants and the HOME program, which "were used extensively in rural areas and small cities," Belden reports. "One of the federal government’s most important and largest social safety net programs, tenant-based rental assistance, would be cut by $26.7 billion."

Other proposed cuts that could impact rural communities include the end of the Low-income Home Energy Assistance Program, zero funding for the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund’s discretionary grants and the elimination of the Community Services Block Grant program.

Along with cuts, the proposed budget has a silver lining, which "says that it furthers investment in rural communities by creating a new $100 million award program that would provide access to affordable financing and spur economic development in rural America," Belden explains. "This new program would require 60% of Community Development Financial Institutions’ loans and investments to go to rural areas."

Congress will decide during its budgetary process how to act on the president's budget proposal. 

Building housing on federal lands could help some Americans, but the idea faces limits and obstacles

Most federal lands are located in the West. Map includes Native American lands held in trust.
(Bureau of Land Management map via Wikipedia)

Many Americans continue to struggle with the country's longstanding shortage of affordable housing. Opening some federal lands to real estate development is one solution the Trump administration has put in motion; however, the prospect faces numerous challenges and is limited by the geography of federal lands.

"Last month, federal officials created a task force that would identify and release federal land that could be used for housing development," reports Madeleine Ngo of The New York Times. The initiative has bipartisan support and could be particularly helpful for western states. The idea is not a solution for states that don't have swaths of federal lands, which tend to be east of the Mississippi.

The obstacles developers face include a lack of existing infrastructure, such as water and sewer, and resistance from environmental groups that want federal lands protected against human intrusion. Also, some western residents dislike the idea of more neighbors and work against development.

The concept could provide thousands of homes in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Wyoming, Oregon, Idaho and Colorado. Ngo explains, "Some analyses have found that releasing more federal land could result in the construction of millions of new homes. Selling about 544,000 acres of developable land — or about 0.2 percent of the land that the Bureau of Land Management oversees — could result in the construction of 1.5 million new homes on land near existing cities over the next decade."

Even with bipartisan support, the process of moving the idea from a concept to active development could be slow and doesn't address the problem in the eastern half of the country. "Releasing federal land could take years because of stringent procedures, and the federal effort alone would not be enough to make up the nation’s entire shortfall of homes," Ngo reports. "Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance giant, has estimated that the nation is short about 3.7 million housing units."

Even with its limitations, some builders are enthusiastic about the possibilities. Ngo adds, "Dan Dunmoyer, the president of the California Building Industry Association, said the biggest challenge facing homebuilders in the state was a shortage of land that was both affordable and suitable for housing development." He told her, “Land is hard to find. If there is land that’s adjacent to urban cores that’s available, that would be of interest to us.”