This article, through the Housing Assistance Council, reviews the extent to which housing assistance is reaching TANF recipients in rural areas. Only 30 percent of TANF recipients are receiving housing assistance, which can prove to be a huge financial burden for these families. For many, who earn about $15,000 a year on average, housing costs can reach up to 58 percent of their income.

This brief reviews poverty and housing issues in rural America. Issues include affordability, quality, and access to mortgage loans. Approximately 5.2 million, just under one-quarter of rural households pay more than 30 percent of their monthly income for housing costs.

From the National Alliance to End Homelessness, this article reveals that when asked, many Americans underestimate the problem of homelessness in the U.S. This piece reviews best practices on strategies to reduce family homeless from Washington, D.C.; Columbus, Ohio; Hennepin County, Minnesota; Westchester County, New York; Massachusetts; and New York City.

This report, co-authored by the National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices and Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC) is based largely on a roundtable meeting conducted in April 2000 by both organizations to discuss expanding postsecondary opportunities for low-income working parents and welfare recipients.

This study, from the Center for Housing Policy, found that the average working family residing in a city spends 57 percent of their annual income on transportation and housing costs. Low-to-moderate income working families are being forced to reside further outside city centers due to housing costs, but families are spending as much or more on transportation costs than they are saving on housing costs.

While stable housing is important to improve conditions for rural low-income people, additional services are necessary to provide additional support to families. This resource offers information on organizations providing affordable housing plus services, and reports on five case studies on successful programs serving rural populations.

This newsletter provides information around revitalization strategies for rural communities before, during, and after disaster. By reviewing examples of how rural communities have responded to disasters, the major theme throughout the recovery process includes planning, community participation, and capacity building.

Traditional public housing rules that set rent as a percentage of a tenant's income have long been thought to discourage residents from taking jobs, because much of the extra income from employment is simply absorbed by an increase in rent. The Jobs-Plus demonstration project is testing ways to break that cycle by changing rent rules in combination with other incentives that make work pay. Making Work Pay for Public Housing Residents describes initiatives underway at seven public housing developments in six cities across the nation and their potential effects on residents' income and decisions about work.

This research report, from the National Alliance to End Homelessness, discusses measurement and data gathering strategies to measure efforts to alleviate homelessness. While there is a recent charge to end chronic homelessness in local communities, this article provides baseline information for comparison purposes. As of January 2005, it is estimated that 744,313 people experienced homelessness -- 56% of whom residing in shelters and transitional housing, and 44% unsheltered.

This paper, from the National Poverty Center, analyzes current housing policy with relation to the recent trends of the low income population becoming decentralized. Authors seek to investigate if this strategy equates to increased economic efficiency by reviewing data from large metropolitan areas across the country.