The rural housing shortage (and inhabitability crisis) as seen from rural far northern California

All photos Smith River, California, July 2019 ((c) Lisa R. Pruitt)

A few days ago, I wrote this post about rural homelessness, prompted by coverage of the phenomenon in local media in Del Norte County, California and Curry County, Oregon.  Now I want to circle back and write about a related problem:  the rural housing shortage, including the lack of safe, habitable and affordable housing.

As I noted in the prior post, I was in the area to assist with home repair and improvement through the work of Sierra Service Project.  In that capacity and because of my current research on the rural housing shortage, I found myself surveying the local housing stock, also with an eye on  habitability issues.  What I saw gave me cause for concern--especially on the habitability front.  I'm featuring a few photos of area housing here, all structures that were clearly occupied.

And here's a source I recently found that provides some data about how Californians--including rural Californians--are being priced out of local housing markets.  If you know of other good data on rural housing, in California or elsewhere, qualitative or quantitative, please let me know about it.