What are policymakers doing to address urgent rural housing challenges during our current public health crisis? Is rural America at risk of being left behind in the rush to craft solutions? We brought together an online panel to dig into these questions, as part of our latest livestream conversation.
While government and community action may have delayed the arrival of coronavirus in much of rural America, the pandemic is having a nationwide impact. Closures of rural hospitals and bank branches, old housing stock, and poor transportation connections can make for disproportionately heavy impacts in rural places and persistent poverty areas. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service programs, which serve more than half a million rural Americans, received no supplemental funding in the CARES Act to help residents struggling to make rent or mortgage payments due to the economic stresses of the pandemic. Rural programs do receive additional funding in the House’s HEROES bill, but that bill faces the threat of Presidential veto.
This conversation on policy action and opportunities was the second in a two-part series on rural housing, co-presented by the Daily Yonder in partnership with the Rural Assembly and the Housing Assistance Council. Note, the Rural Assembly is a program of the nonprofit Center for Rural Strategies, which also publishes the Daily Yonder.
Viewers can now watch the livestream on the Daily Yonder’s YouTube channel, where they can also catch up on part one of our rural housing conversation. Complete details about the combined series are listed below.
RElated Story
Watch Our First Livestream Conversation on Rural Housing and Covid-19
Event Details
Our two-part housing livestream is available on the Daily Yonder’s YouTube channel. Each part premiered shortly after 2 p.m. Eastern Time, on Tuesday June 9 and 16. For those who missed the live conversations, the videos remain available for viewing on-demand.
Panelists for part two included:
- Samantha Booth, Government Relations Manager, rural housing and federal appropriations policy expert, Housing Assistance Council (HAC)
- Bill Bynum, Chief Executive Officer, HOPE Credit Union
- Dave Castillo, CEO, Native Community Capital
- Mark Kudlowitz, Policy Director, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)
- David Lipsetz, CEO, HAC, Moderator
Panelists for part one are listed in last week’s Daily Yonder report on these rural housing livestream conversations.
Participants are encouraged to sign up to attend these livestreams via the Rural Assembly website; registration is not required, but those who sign up receive a reminder email with a livestream link when a conversation is about to begin.
Viewers are encouraged to participate by sharing their questions, in the comments section of livestream videos or by tweeting with the hashtag #ruralconversations.
Watch Now on the Daily Yonder YouTube channel.
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