In response to growing housing need across the fifteen rural counties, the Nevada Rural Housing Authority (NRHA) commissioned a Rural Housing Needs Assessment Report, which was completed in March 2005. The purpose of the Report is to provide NRHA Board and staff with immediate and reliable information about the housing conditions and needs in the rural areas of Nevada, as well as help inform NRHA¹s current strategic planning process.

The study addresses the following questions:
* What are the current demographic and economic trends in the rural areas that have an impact on housing?
* What are the greatest housing needs across the rural areas?
* What are the barriers to addressing those needs?
* Where are there opportunities for expansion of housing programs?  What type of programs?

The Report and two appendices are available below for free public download.

Housing Needs Report (1.5 mb)
Appendix #1: Rural Housing Data Book (1.8 mb)
Appendix #2: Housing Mail Survey Attachments (540 kb)

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the many planning and community development staff, city and county managers, public officials, developers, bankers and others who took the time to fill out the mail survey or take part in an interview. We would also like to thank the following organizations for their financial support of the Rural Housing Needs Assessment report:

Sierra Pacific Power Company
Fannie Mae Nevada Partnership Office
Harley Davidson Credit
U.S. Bank
Nevada State Bank

The Rural Housing Needs Assessment was directed by Eric Novak, with research assistance from Yette Martell-Deluca, Tina Baldassarre, and Julie Harris. Julie Harris wrote the demographic and housing data analysis sections of the report.