Scarcity of Housing in Rural America Drives Worker Shortage

Unemployment has hit record lows at a time when the housing shortage in rural communities has become especially acute, reports the Wall Street Journal . Affordable housing has become a recruitment concern. Rural areas also are seeing their populations stagnate or decline as younger people opt for urban living. Nebraska recently granted $7 million to rural communities to build market-rate homes to help attract more workers. "The fear is that if we don't solve this in some way, we're gonna lose a big employer," said Kimberly Hoefer, a real-estate broker in Columbus, NE. "It's a pretty simple equation," said Lance George, director of research for the Housing Assistance Council in Washington, DC. "The incomes in this country have not really matched housing prices so you continue to have this disconnect."