Lost in the Translation: Smart Growth, Local Planning, and Rural Affordable Housing

摘要

Smart growth is almost exclusively thought of as a framework for directing urban development. Much of the smart growth discussion, as it pertains to rural areas, has focused on preserving open space and protecting the environment. What this discussion tends to leave out, however, is that there are housing needs in rural areas as well as in suburban and inner city areas. As of 2001, more than 1.6 million nonmetropolitan households (6.9 percent) lived in units that were physically inadequate (HAC 2002, 30). These units often had structural problems that included cracks in the walls, leaking roofs, and unreliable heating, plumbing, or electrical systems. Twenty-five percent of all nonmetro households were cost burdened, paying more than 30 percent of their income for housing costs. This figure included over 2.4 million rural households that were paying more than half their incomes for their housing (HAC 2002, 28). There has been little critical debate as to the impacts of smart growth efforts on the stock of affordable housing in rural America. This study is an attempt to present a set of rural housing concerns that could be used to inform future smart growth initiatives.