The rural housing crisis: analytical dimensions and emblematic issues

Abstract

While the urban housing crisis is pivotal to current debates in housing studies, the question of affordable as well as sustainable housing in rural settings has arisen only recently. However, recent developments, including increasing demand for housing as well as for a specific supply, indicate that there is a rural housing crisis. Connecting the scattered strands of literature on rural housing, we propose an understanding of the rural housing crisis that involves spatialities, temporalities and intersectionalities. These dimensions are illustrated by three emblematic issues: the financialization/assetization of the rural housing supply, the increasing mobility of rural residents and the selective gentrification of rural communities. Building on a review of the literature on rural housing and its challenges, we argue that greater consideration of the rural in housing studies and a more nuanced focus on housing issues in rural studies would be fruitful, not only for future research but also for political action.