BRIAN DEPEW, Executive Director, Center for Rural Affairs

The Center for Rural Affairs has long focused on strategies to support economic vitality for small communities. Our work to assist small businesses, develop value-added agriculture and improve policy, all focus on creating widespread opportunity for people who live in rural areas.

Increasingly, we see small town housing as an economic development issue. While adequate and affordable housing is a quality of life issue, it also plays an important role in economic development. A lack of local housing can undercut successful business sta...