HOUSING AND SOCIETY, 39(2), 2012 125 INSIGHTS INTO HOUSING AFFORDABILITY FOR RURAL LOW-INCOME FAMILIES Jessica N. Kropczynski, Patricia H. Dyk Abstract Many nonproits and government entities model the standard for housing afordability set by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD, which states that housing costs in excess of 30% of gross household income are unafordable. Families require a minimum level of basic consumption after housing costs are made which must then be purchased with the remaining 70% of their gross income. Hence, an increasing number of studies have examined how these competing needs factor into the government equation for housing afordability using national datasets. his study uses data from the Rural Families Speak project, a multi-state research project focused on rural, low-income families with children. he percent of income families spent on housing is compared to their ability to fulill basic needs to answer the question: Do low-income rural families that are not housing cost burdened perceive themselves to be able to meet more basic needs than families that are housing cost burdened according to the government standard? By incorporating measures of perceived fulillment of basic needs, the understanding of afordability can be broadened to include the challenging circumstances of rural areas. Key words: afordability, rural housing, low-income. Introduction his study contributes to the literature on the government standard of housing afordability as it applies to rural U.S. families by answering the question: Do rural families with afordable housing by the government’s standard perceive themselves to be able to meet their basic needs? In a time of Jessica N. Kropczynski (corresponding author) is a doctoral candidate in sociology, in the Department of Sociology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY. Patricia H. Dyk is the Director of the Center for Leadership Development, in the Department of Community & Leadership Development and Department of Sociology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY. HOUSING AND SOCIETY, Volume 39, Issue 2, Pages 125–148. Copyright © 2012 Housing Education and Research Association All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ISSN: 0888-2746. Kropczynski, Dyk •