The Center for Community Change released State Housing Trust Funds: A Rural Lifeline, which highlights the successes rural communities have had with state and local housing trust funds. Almost every state has created a housing trust fund that allows local communities to invest in affordable housing for the lowest income people. Because rural communities can face significant challenges in accessing private investment and capital, trust funds are a crucial resource to ensure low income households have safe, decent, and affordable housing.
The new report shares the results of the Center for Community Change’s national survey of state housing trust fund administrators. According to the survey, 86% of the states that responded “have awarded state housing trust funds to rural areas in the past five years, demonstrating the importance of these funds to addressing rural housing needs.” The report also shows the diversity of uses of state housing trust funds – e.g., addressing rural homeownership in Maine and Nebraska; providing rental housing in South Dakota, Oregon, and Washington; and implementing homelessness prevention efforts in Indiana, Georgia, and Arizona.
Read State Housing Trust Funds: A Rural Lifeline at: http://bit.ly/2qz65aA