In 2019, I moved back to the state where I was born and raised to direct the Alabama Life Research Institute (ALRI) at the University of Alabama (UA). I was attracted by our mission: using research to improve the lives of Alabamians. To live up to that mission, I needed to not only understand our research capacity and expertise at UA but also the lived experiences of the people. I thought I knew rural Alabama and its needs, but I was wrong. I found myself unprepared for the extent of the rural housing crisis here.
You would have to have your head buried in the sand to not have heard about a housing crisis in the United States. Many reports document the lack of affordable housing and increases in housing insecurity and homelessness. Much of the focus is on urban areas. But there is also a housing crisis in many parts of rural America: a crisis of substandard housing that is only going to get worse if we don’t act now. Nowhere is this problem more apparent than in the Alabama Black Belt, a region that stretches east to west and that got its name from the fertile, dark soil that made it the center of cotton production in the 1800s and early 20th century. The overproduction of cotton destroyed the top layer of rich soil, leaving clay.
ALRI focuses on improving health and well-being in rural and underserved communities through community-engaged research and interdisciplinary partnerships. Housing is a critical social determinant of health that has been a focus of our work for the past four years. We have collaborated with the Alabama Department of Public Health, Alabama Safe State, local municipalities, and community organizations on initiatives addressing healthy homes, lead exposure, and environmental hazards in Alabama’s Black Belt.
Many homes in the region are in disrepair, with aging, damaged roofs and floors that lead to water damage. According to Prosperity Now, more than one in five Black Belt residents lives in a manufactured home. About one in six of these homes was built before 1979. The region is home to some of the most poverty-stricken communities in the country, making it impossible for residents to repair damage to their homes.
The Black Belt’s clay soil does not allow for proper water drainage, resulting in two major problems: Standing water accumulates for days after rain, and septic systems function poorly. Climate change has brought more frequent storms, along with longer, more frequent flooding that causes significant dampness and mold in homes. In the first quarter of 2023, Alabama experienced the highest number of severe storm reports, including tornados, in the U.S. Several of these storms caused damage in the Black Belt. Selma is still recovering from a massive tornado in January 2023 that was part of a larger storm outbreak that caused about $49 million in damage. The Selma tornado destroyed about one-third of the town. Three years later, what has surprised me most—though it likely shouldn’t, given what we saw in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina—is how uneven the recovery has been, with many residents still struggling with housing.
Clay soil also causes traditional septic systems to fail. It does not absorb liquid waste, causing it to back up or flood, especially after heavy rain. Instead, more expensive, specialized systems are required to manage the release of waste in a way the soil can handle. Buying, installing, and maintaining these systems is cost-prohibitive for many residents. Because the area is rural, it is not feasible to connect to a municipal sewage system in many of these communities. Residents are forced to use “straight pipe” systems, which direct wastewater away from the home and discharge it at the ground surface. But the soil does not drain well, and the wastewater sits on the surface—sometimes in combination with rainwater—creating a potential health hazard.
Following significant activism around the septic system problem, a civil rights settlement was reached in May 2023 to address rural sanitation failures in Lowndes County—a region that, thanks to the work of activists including Catherine Coleman Flowers, received lots of attention. The settlement provided funding for septic tanks, but was terminated by the Justice Department in April 2025, even as residents still face exposure to raw sewage and uncertain remediation. The need didn’t go away; the support did.
A Crisis Long in the Making
While the substandard housing crisis affects all demographics, African-American residents are disproportionately affected. Black citizens were often sold the worst land in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, leaving them in less productive lowland areas that are more likely to flood.
The 1968 Housing and Urban Development Act also contributed. Section 235 of the act drove the construction of new homes. However, the federal government failed to manage the program. As a result, many homes had “poor workmanship and [were] in immediate need of repair,” according to Jennifer S. Carrera and Catherine Coleman Flowers for The American Journal of Economics and Sociology. Section 235 contributed to housing inequality. “When black buyers could purchase new homes, they were often in blighted areas,” they write.
Many of these substandard homes were later abandoned and replaced with less expensive manufactured homes, according to Carrera and Flowers. These homes are more affordable and more comfortable than the poorly constructed structures that preceded them. Additionally, many residents have access to family land, often referred to as heirs’ property. Since it is difficult to obtain a deed to the land, making it impossible to obtain a mortgage to build a house, one option is to purchase a manufactured home instead.
We Have the Tools—Let’s Use Them
We must invest in quality housing in small rural communities. Federal funds do not always reach these communities because of their size and inexperience with federal grant applications. Additionally, because Black rural residents disproportionately hold heirs’ property, addressing these problems is critical to improving their access to housing and the quality of their homes.
Community-based organizations, or CBOs, are nonprofit entities whose missions are tied to specific geographic areas. They provide services that government agencies cannot easily reach, and they are often the most trusted organizations in their communities. CBOs, in collaboration with existing federal agencies, can make a difference.
In our experience, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs are underutilized because of a lack of awareness, insufficient local capacity, and complex application processes—not because of a lack of need. For example, the USDA Section 504 Home Repair program offers low-interest loans and grants to address health and safety hazards in owner-occupied homes. Many rural homeowners are unaware of the program, and the application process is difficult to navigate. USDA also has programs that can finance wastewater systems, including septic systems, or small community systems that require planning and engineering. Many CBOs in rural areas and municipalities lack the staff capacity or technical expertise to take this on. As a result, when funding is available, these small communities struggle to access and implement these programs without additional support. In 2025, the Trump administration froze funding for federal programs, including ones that help low-income rural communities, causing even more confusion.
The Department of Energy’s Weatherization Assistance Program is designed to cover home modifications to reduce energy costs for low-income households, but the home must meet minimum standards. Leaky roofs and mold may make a home ineligible. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has several relevant programs, including the Healthy Homes grant program, that assist low-income homeowners with critical home repairs. CBOs that help homeowners to stack programs could help address this problem. (ALRI is currently participating in a HUD Healthy Homes Technical Studies Grant with Alabama Safe State focused on understanding and improving indoor air quality in rural homes.)
The USDA, in collaboration with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, operates an Heirs’ Property Relending Program to help eligible families obtain deeds, enabling them to build homes and secure mortgages. The program also helps families qualify for other federal programs to improve their housing. However, many people are unaware of the program. Having a CBO to help connect residents to these programs could be transformational.
It is Time to Act
Empowering local CBOs and improving coordination among federal programs can make lifesaving impacts in rural America, particularly in the Alabama Black Belt. CBOs are already working to address housing problems. Now, they need adequate funding to increase staff capacity so they can turn the substandard housing crisis around, one house at a time.
Rural America’s housing crisis has been neglected. It is time to put a spotlight on it.
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