“We’ve developed a culture where people don’t tend to avail themselves of protections afforded to them.” The comment comes from Brent Thompson, executive director for East River Legal Services, representing low-income residents of eastern South Dakota.
Thompson is discussing evictions in rural America. His mandate includes helping with such crises, but he knows little about them, whether in South Dakota or any other state, for that matter. Most eviction information is gathered for cities.
It is difficult or impossible for governments responsible for rural areas to plan support for needy citizens without all-important data about the scope of the problem. In rural America, accurate statistical information needs to be collected from rural communities and regions to inform government action. Right now it doesn’t exist.
An opposite problem also exists, as expressed in Thompson’s quote above. A wealth of programs have been developed to assist housing insecure citizens during COVID, including assistance to avoid being evicted.
But for months going on years now, far too many rural Americans have been unaware of these programs, and/or how to access them. Lives are being ruined by evictions even as the money has been there to prevent them.
Read more about an information highway that is currently failing to bring information to and from rural Americans. Read more at The Center For Public Integrity: In rural America, an invisible eviction crisis
