Abstract
Though sometimes overlooked, the availability, affordability, and quality of housing in rural communities are a potential barrier to transitioning from welfare to work. In this investigation we examine housing issues confronting 17 rural women and their families who were recipients of welfare benefits in 1997. Respondents' housing accounts illustrate the significance of reliance on both government housing subsidies and informal subsidies supplied by friends, family, and more distant relatives. The study focuses on concerns women have in meeting their families shelter needs and the complexities involved in doing so. The findings of the research suggest that additional housing policy initiatives, as well as a targeted research agenda are needed, especially for families whose welfare benefits are nearing termination.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bartlett, S. (1997). The significance of relocation for chronically poor families in the USA. Environment and Urbanization, 9, 21–131.
Bourne, L.S. (1981). The geography of housing. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Cancian, R., Haveman, R., Kaplan, T., Meyer, D., & Wolfe, B. (1999). Work, earnings, and well-being after welfare: What do we know? Washington, DC: Welfare Reform and the Macro-Economy.
Castells, M., & Portes, A. (1989). World underneath: The origins, dynamics, and effects of the informal economy. In A. Portes, M. Castells, & L. Benton (Eds.) The Informal Economy: Studies in Advanced and Less Developed Countries (pp. 11–37). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Clay, D.C., & Scwarzweller, H.D. (1991). Introduction: Researching household strategies. Research in Rural Sociology and Development, 5, 1–10.
Colton, R. D. (1996). A road oft taken: Unaffordable home energy bills, forced mobility and childhood education in Missouri. Journal of Children and Poverty, 2, 23–40.
Edin, K., & Lein, L. (1997). Making ends meet: How single mothers survive welfare and low-wage work. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
Fitchen, J.M. (1995). The single-parent family: Child poverty and welfare reform. Human Organization, 54, 355–362.
Fletcher, C.N., Gaddis, B.J., Flora, J., Hansen, H.B, Shirer, K., Winter, M., Litt, J., Norman, N., Betterley, C., & Overstreet, M. (1999). Family Well-Being and Welfare Reform in Iowa, Ames, IA: Iowa State University.
Fletcher, C.N., Winter, M., & Gaddis, B.J. (1998). Studying welfare reform: Challenges and opportunities. In I. Leech (Ed.), Consumer Interests Annual, Proceedings of the 44th Annual Conference of the American Council on Consumer Interests (pp. 72–77). Columbia, MO: American Council on Consumer Interests.
Housing Assistance Council. (1997). Rural Housing and Welfare Reform: HAC's 1997 Report on the State of the Nation's Rural Housing. Washington, DC: Author.
Kauff, J., Fowler, L., Fraker, T., & Milliner-Waddell, J. (2001). Iowa families that left TANF: Why did they leave and how are they faring? Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. Retrieved February 14, 2001, from http:// www. mathematica-mpr.com/PDFs/iowaleave.pdf
Kaufman, T. L. (1997). Out of reach: The unaffordability of rental housing. Journal of Housing and Community Development, 54(6), 25–30.
Kingsley, T. (1997). Federal housing assistance and welfare reform: Uncharted territory. (On-Line). Retrieved February 14, 2001, from http:// newfederalism.urban.org/ html/ anf19.html
Kingsley, T., & Tatian, P. (1999). Housing and welfare reform: Geography matters. In S.J. Newman, The Home Front: Implications of Welfare Reform for Housing Policy (pp. 81–122). Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.
Lichter, D.T, & Jensen, L. (2000). Rural America in transition: Poverty and welfare at the turn of the 21st century. Paper presented at the conference on Rural Dimensions of Welfare Reform: A Research Conference on Poverty, Welfare and Food Assistance. Retrieved June 2001, from http://www.jcpr.org/conferences/ oldconferences/rural.html
Litt, J., Gaddis, B.J., Fletcher, C.N., & Winter, M. (2000). Leaving welfare: Independence or continued vulnerability? The Journal of Consumer Affairs, 34, 82–96.
Loprest, P. (2001). How are families that left welfare doing? A comparison of early and recent welfare leavers. New Federalism: National Survey of America's Families (Series B, No. B-36). Washington, DC: The Urban Institute.
Makowsky, P., Cook, A.S, Berger, P.S., & Powell, J. (1988). Women's perceived stress and well-being following voluntary and involuntary relocation. Lifestyles: Family and Economic Issues, 9, 111–123.
McKernan, S-M, Lerman, R., Pindus, N., & Valente, J. (2000). The relationship between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan locations, changing welfare policies, and the employment of single mothers. Retrieved June 23, 2000, from http://www. jcpr.org/ conferences/oldcoferences/rural.html
Morris, E., & Winter, M. (1978). Housing, Family, and Society. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Myers, A., Frank, D. A., Roos, N., Peterson, K. E., Casey, V. A., Cupples, L. A., & Levenson, S. M. (1995). Housing subsidies and pediatric undernutrition. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 149, 1079–1085.
National Low Income Housing Coalition (2001). Washington, D.C.: Author.
Nelson, M.K. & Smith, J. (1999). Working hard and making do: Surviving in small town America. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Newman, S.J. (ed). (1999). The home front: Implications of welfare reform for housing policy. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.
Newman, S.J., & Harkness, J. (1999). The effects of welfare reform on housing: A national analysis. In S.J. Newman, The Home Front: Implications of Welfare Reform for Housing Policy (pp. 29–80). Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.
Pavetti, L. (2000). Welfare reform and hard-to-employ families: An overview. Handout at a satellite videoconference, March 29. Ames, IA.
Priemus, H. (1986). Housing as a social adaptation process: A conceptual scheme. Environment and Behavior, 18(1), 31–52.
Quercia, R. G., & Rohe, W. M. (1993). Models of housing adjustment and their implications for planning policy. Journal of Planning Literature, 8, 20–31.
Ross, C.E., Reynolds, J.R., & Geis, K.J. (2000). The contingent meaning of neighborhood stability for residents' psychological well-being. America Sociological Review, 65, 581–597.
Rossi, P. H. (1980). Why families move. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
Saegert, S., & Winkel, G. (1998). Social capital and the revitalization of New York's distressed inner-city housing. Housing Policy Debate 9(1), 17–60.
Sard, B., & Lubell, J. (2000). The Increasing Use of TANF and State Matching Funds to Provide Housing Assistance to Families Moving from Welfare to Work. Washington, DC: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Retrieved April 29, 2002, from http:// www.cbpp.org
Shinn, M., & Weitzman, B. C. (1994). You can't eliminate homelessness without housing. American Behavioral Scientist, 37(3), 435–442.
Shlay, A. B. (1993). Family self-sufficiency and housing. Housing Policy Debate, 4, 457–495.
Shlay, A.B. (1995). Housing in the broader context in the United States. Housing Policy Debate 6, 695–720.
So, F.S., & Getzel, J. (1988). The Practice of Local Government Planning (2nd Ed.). Washington, D.C: International City Management Association.
South, S.J., & Crowder, K.D. (1997). Escaping distressed neighborhoods: Individual, community, and metropolitan influences. American Journal of Sociology, 102, 1040–1084.
South, S.J., & Crowder, K.D. (1998). Avenues and barriers to residential mobility among single mothers. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60, 866–877.
Stone, M.E. (1993). Shelter Poverty. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
The New Face of Welfare: Engaging Hard-to-Serve Families. (2000, March 29). Participant packet. Satellite videoconference, Distance Education/Digital Unit. Madison, Wisconsin: Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.
Tickamyer, A. R. (1995-6). Public policy and private lives: Social and spatial dimensions of women's poverty and welfare policy in the United States. Kentucky Law Journal, 84, 721–744.
Tickamyer, A. R., Henderson, D. A., White, J. A., & Tadlock, B.L. (2000). Voices of welfare reform: Bureaucratic rationality versus the perceptions of welfare participants. Affilia, 15(2), 173–192.
U.S. Congress. (2000). 2000 greenbook. Retrieved February 2001, from http://www. access.gpo.gov/congress/wm001.html
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (1998). Rental housing assistance- The crisis continues: the 1997 report to Congress on worst case housing needs. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (1999). Waiting in vain: An update on America's rental housing crisis. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (2001). Welfare reform. Retrieved February 2001, from http://www.hud.gov/wlfrefrm.cfm
Weisner, T. S., Gallimore, R., Nihira, K, Bernheimer, L.P., & Coots, J.J. (1995). The ecocultural family interview manual. Los Angeles, CA: Ecolcultural Scale Project.
Wilson, W.J., & Cherlin, A.J. (2001, July 13). The real test of welfare reform still lies ahead. The New York Times.
Wolf, D.L. (1991). Does father know best? A feminist critique of household strategy research. Research in Rural Sociology and Development, 5, 29–43.
Ziebarth, A. (2000). Local housing policy: The small-town myth and economic development. Rural America, 15, 18–23.
Ziebarth, A., Prochaska-Cue, K., & Shrewsbury, B. (1997). Growth and locational impacts for housing and small communities. Rural Sociology, 62, 111–25.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cook, C.C., Crull, S.R., Fletcher, C.N. et al. Meeting Family Housing Needs: Experiences of Rural Women in the Midst of Welfare Reform. Journal of Family and Economic Issues 23, 285–316 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020347227308
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020347227308