ARTICLE #2: Rural Homelessness
NCH Fact Sheet #11
Published by the National Coalition for the Homeless, August 2007
Homelessness is often assumed to be an urban phenomenon because homeless people are more
numerous, more geographically concentrated, and more visible in urban areas. However, people
experience the same difficulties associated with homelessness and housing distress in America's
small towns and rural areas as they do in urban areas. Problems defining, locating, and sampling
have made enumerating the homeless population with certainty virtually impossible with
estimates commonly relying on counts of persons using services that are inaccessible. Some of
what has been learned in recent years about the causes, consequences, and strategies for
combating homelessness in rural areas is summarized below. Resources for further study are also
provided.
DEFINITIONS AND DEMOGRAPHICS
Understanding rural homelessness requires a more flexible definition of homelessness. There are
far fewer shelters in rural areas than in urban areas; therefore, people experiencing homelessness
are less likely to live on the street or in a shelter and more likely to live in a car or camper, or
with relatives in overcrowded or substandard housing. Restricting definitions of homelessness to
include only those who are literally homeless - that is, on the streets or in shelters - does not fit
well with the rural reality, and also may exclude many rural communities from accessing federal
dollars to address homelessness.
Rurality is typically defined in contrast to urbanicity. The most commonly used definitions are
based on population density and proximity to metropolitan areas such as those developed by the
U.S. Bureau of the Census, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA). Prior to 2003, OMB defined a “metropolitan community” as
a population nucleus with a population of 50,000 or more and the economically tied surrounding
area; communities with more than 5,000 but fewer than 50,000 people were designated as “urban
clusters.” Rural areas constitute all “territory, population, and housing units not classified as
urban” (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2005).
The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act defines a homeless person as, “(1) an individual
who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; and (2) an individual who has a
primary nighttime residence that is-(A) a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter
designed to provide temporary living accommodations (including welfare hotels, congregate
shelters, and transitional housing for the mentally ill); (B) an institution that provides a
temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized; or (C) a public or private
place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human
beings.” This definition has created an atmosphere in which most rural communities do not count
persons living in rural substandard structures as homeless, leaving a portion of those who are
homeless in rural areas unidentified while their counterparts are being counted in urban
communities.
Studies comparing urban and rural homeless populations have shown that homeless people in
rural areas are more likely to be white, female, married, currently working, homeless for the first
time, and homeless for a shorter period of time (Fisher, 2005). Other research indicates that
families, single mothers, and children make up the largest group of people who are homeless in
rural areas (Vissing, 1996). Homelessness among Native Americans and migrant workers is also
largely a rural phenomenon. Findings also include higher rates of domestic violence and lower
rates of alcohol and substance abuse.
CAUSES
Rural homelessness, like urban homelessness, is the result of poverty and a lack of affordable
housing. In 2005, research shows that the odds of being poor are between 1.2 to 2.3 times higher
for people in nonmetropolitan areas, than in metropolitan areas. One in five nonmetro counties is
classified as a high poverty county (defined as having a poverty rate of 20% or higher), while
only one in twenty metro counties are defined as high poverty (Fisher, 2005). Furthermore, in
2005, 15.1 percent of rural Americans were living in poverty compared with 12.5 percent of nonrural
Americans (Jensen, 2006). Rural homelessness is most pronounced in rural regions that are
primarily agricultural; regions whose economies are based on declining extractive industries
such as mining, timber, or fishing; and regions experiencing economic growth -- for example,
areas with industrial plants that attract more workers than jobs available, and areas near urban
centers that attract new businesses and higher income residents, thereby driving up taxes and
living expenses (Aron and Fitchen, 1996).
It has been show that fewer job opportunities, lower wages, and longer periods of unemployment
also plague the rural poor more often than their urban counterparts (Bread for the World
Institute, 2005). A lack of decent affordable housing underlies both rural and urban
homelessness. While housing costs are lower in rural areas, so are rural incomes, leading to
similarly high rent burdens. Problems of housing quality also contribute to rural homelessness: in
rural areas, 30% of nonmetro households, or 6.2 million households, have at least one major
housing problem (Housing Assistance Council, 2002). Rural residential histories reveal that
homelessness is often precipitated by a structural or physical housing problem jeopardizing
health or safety; when families relocate to safer housing, the rent is often too much to manage
and they experience homelessness again while searching for housing that is both safe and
affordable. Other trends affecting rural homelessness include the distance between low-cost
housing and employment opportunities, lack of transportation, decline in homeownership,
restrictive land-use regulations and housing codes, rising rent burdens, and insecure tenancy
resulting from changes in the local real estate market (for example, the displacement of trailer
park residents) (Fitchen, 1992).
POLICY ISSUES
Efforts to end rural homelessness are complicated by isolation, lack of awareness, and lack of
resources. Helpful initiatives would include broadening the definition of homelessness to include
those in temporary and/or dilapidated facilities, increasing outreach to isolated areas, and
increasing networking and awareness on a national level. Ultimately, however, ending
homelessness in rural areas requires jobs that pay a living wage, adequate income supports for
those who cannot work, affordable housing, access to health care, and transportation.
RESOURCES: