Combining academic housing specialists, researchers for non-profit housing organizations, and housing practitioners, this collection emanated from a Fannie Mae Office of Housing Research roundtable series led by Belden and Wiener. It explores decent and affordable shelter in rural areas, an often-overlooked issue in housing policy. Rural poor and their housing conditions are not widely discussed or examined within professional literature because most housing policymakers, administrators, researchers, and advocates live in cities and take an urban-centric view, what some rural critics have called "metropolyanna."

Following an introductory chapter which defines "rural" and describes the state of rural housing and poverty in the United States, chapters cover a broad spectrum of housing need, innovative strategies, and practitioners′ approaches in rural America. Contributors examine current conditions of rural housing, look at some solutions to problems associated with rural housing, and suggest innovations for the future.