Us & Them Encore: Housing Options Are Few & Far Between In Appalachia

For some Americans home ownership is a way to build wealth for future generations.

But West Virginia presents the complexities and nuances of that reality. The Mountain State has the nation’s highest homeownership rate but the second lowest personal income rate.

And much of the state’s housing is old and needs repair. In one West Virginia county, 67% of the homes are more than 80 years old and half rate below normal on standard quality measures. By several measures, there are 500,000 people living in such conditions.

In this encore Us & Them — which was recently honored by the Virginias Associated Press Broadcasters for Best Podcast — we travel just across the state line to western Virginia to experience a side of the housing crisis we don’t often see — structures in disrepair that people call home.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the CRC Foundation.

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“We have about 3.8 million households in Appalachia, and by several measures, there are half a million people living in homes built before 1930 or in families earning less than 30% of area median income. Cuts to the HUD budget this year have hit federal assistance hard, leaving people with less buying power. All things equal, if your income is very low, your ability to find a decent place to live is very limited.”

— Jim King, CEO of FAHE

“Back then I would get the water in a barrel for cleaning and cooking and all that stuff. I got a big pot out there that I use to heat water in to bathe and stuff. I used wood and had a flue that I had built in for heat.”

— Joyce Vest

“I just realized when I came out here that that’s not a way for her to live, and if I could help her, we were going to do so. We started searching and looking [to find a service to help], and it took a couple of years before we had the house. It was one of those things that was on my heart that I had to do. To be honest, I didn’t realize people lived like that — without electricity and without water. I’m not sure how she did it, but she did. She managed. It was an eye-opening experience for me, and it made me realize that I needed to do some things.”

— Stacey Reeder, veterinarian in rural Virginia

“The Indoor Plumbing and Rehabilitation program is designed for low- to moderate-income homeowners who have no indoor plumbing, no potable water or a failing septic system. In her case, she had no well, no indoor bathroom and no septic system — so she qualified for the program. It’s a common challenge: even if a septic system was installed 50 years ago, it may now have failed or be underperforming and must be replaced to meet current regulations and prevent groundwater contamination. And if someone who is 70 or 80 years old — who has lived in their home for decades — suddenly finds that their septic system has failed, they may be forced to install an alternative system that can cost up to $40,000, an expense that is often unaffordable on a fixed income.”

— Kenneth Rogers, rural housing specialist with Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project (SERCAP)

Before-and-after composite images of Joyce Vest’s home document conditions before the Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project (SERCAP) built a new structure with electricity and running water. The images were provided to Us & Them by SERCAP.

Photo by Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting; composite images courtesy of SERCAP

“That means their families haven’t accumulated the wealth needed to pass on from generation to generation to ensure stability. People my age — and I’m among the oldest millennials — can buy homes largely because of intergenerational wealth. Without that, you lose access to safe, stable housing. Anyone could become homeless at any time — a huge medical expense could wipe you out and leave you on the street. We hear stories like that, but housing insecurity is mostly rooted in generations of being left out. We see it in Appalachia, where people live in old trailers, and in urban areas, where tenants endure poorly maintained rental homes while paying high rents. This isn’t so much a political divide as it is the result of setting our country on a wealth-building track that didn’t include everyone — and still doesn’t. It’s become an us-and-them scenario.”

– Mel Jones, co-director of the Virginia Center for Housing Research at Virginia Tech University