Rural Homelessness Initiative

Rural Homeless Initiative of Southeast and Central Ohio (RHISCO)

Almost one-quarter of Americans live in rural areas. Many are struggling to get by. Disturbingly, 14.5 percent live in poverty and 1.5 million, or 6.6 percent of rural homes are classified as substandard, according to the 2003 American Housing Survey. Almost one out of ten people who experience homelessness live in rural areas, and even more are precariously housed and living on the periphery of homelessness. Rural areas face distinctive challenges—geographic isolation, limited social service capacity, pervasive poverty, shifting demographics and industry, among others. Consequently, responses to homelessness in rural America require local solutions.

The Rural Homeless Initiative of Southeast and Central Ohio (RHISCO) is the nation’s first region-wide planning effort to prevent and end homelessness in rural America. The RHSICO project brings together 17 counties—Athens, Delaware, Fayette, Fairfield, Hocking, Jackson, Knox, Licking, Madison, Meigs, Morgan, Perry, Pickaway, Ross, Union, Vinton and Washington in Southeast and central Ohio. Each county is developing a community-wide plan and then uniting to form a region-wide plan to end homelessness in the region. The Center for Capacity Building at the National Alliance to End Homelessness is leading this initiative with the support of the Osteopathic Heritage Foundations. The initiative uses proven planning strategies and innovative technologies that bring rural communities together, maintain community identity, and address the unique needs of each rural county. The project includes a community assessment, planning summit, implementation assistance, and evaluation and knowledge building. Lessons learned from the project will help fine-tune techniques that will aid in ending homelessness in rural areas across the country.