Right wing media would like you to believe that houselessness is an urban issue they can blame on "coastal elites" and "wokeness."

It's not.

Like any other challenge, houselessness touches every part of our country. And like any other challenge, it plays out differently in rural communities than in the cities. In fact, rural houselessness has increased nearly 6% between 2020-2022, although it's almost certainly still undercounted.

While both rural and urban communities struggle with a lack of livable wage jobs, rural folks tend to have more limited housing options. And low population density means workers can't easily travel even relatively short distances from their housing to a job without a reliable car or public transit. Lack of affordable health care or stalled Medicaid expansion in some states compounds the problem by turning small medical issues into big ones.

The issues snowball, and yet rural areas have fewer dedicated homeless interventions. Already-overburdened human services agencies struggle to keep up with the problem and to get the funding and resources they need. And even when those funds come through, it's not always clear how to distribute them.

Meanwhile, as politicians in Washington DC argue, point fingers and make speeches about tents on city sidewalks, rural communities don't get the attention they deserve.

That's where we come in. One Country Project makes sure our lawmakers are fighting for localized solutions: expanded health care access, affordable housing, and workforce development to prevent folks from losing their homes in the first place; resources and support to help houseless folks get back on their feet.

And if that means electing new folks, well, that's fine with us.

We intend to stay in this fight for the long haul. Thanks for joining us.

Mike