1 00:00:02,066 --> 00:00:05,266 JUDY WOODRUFF: But first: Discussions about affordable housing often focus on big, expensive 2 00:00:05,266 --> 00:00:08,266 cities, like San Francisco and New York. 3 00:00:08,266 --> 00:00:13,266 But what about rural America, home to about one-fifth of the U.S. population? 4 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:18,700 John Yang reports on a program improving housing in a remote town in Alabama. 5 00:00:20,466 --> 00:00:23,566 It's part of our ongoing series on poverty and opportunity, Chasing the Dream. 6 00:00:23,566 --> 00:00:26,000 MARGARET "REE" ZINNERMAN, Rural Studio Client: Welcome to my house. 7 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:30,700 JOHN YANG: Ree Zinnerman was born in this tiny West Alabama town of Newbern, and, for 8 00:00:30,700 --> 00:00:33,400 her, it will always be home. 9 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:37,166 MARGARET "REE" ZINNERMAN: It's a peaceful place, and I just like sitting here watching 10 00:00:37,166 --> 00:00:39,166 it and listening to the quiet. 11 00:00:39,166 --> 00:00:44,000 JOHN YANG: Soon, for the first time, she will move into a real house of her own. 12 00:00:46,900 --> 00:00:49,566 For more than 40 years, she lived in a mobile home. 13 00:00:49,566 --> 00:00:51,633 MARGARET "REE" ZINNERMAN: That's what I was living in. 14 00:00:51,633 --> 00:00:55,666 JOHN YANG: Zinnerman's house comes courtesy of architecture students in Auburn University's 15 00:00:55,666 --> 00:00:57,266 Rural Studio program. 16 00:00:57,266 --> 00:00:59,866 MARGARET "REE" ZINNERMAN: Words can't describe it. 17 00:00:59,866 --> 00:01:01,566 I couldn't believe it. 18 00:01:01,566 --> 00:01:04,133 After all these years, something I have always wanted was a house. 19 00:01:04,133 --> 00:01:08,233 And I was going to be blessed with the house of my own. 20 00:01:08,233 --> 00:01:13,233 JOHN YANG: Since 1993, Rural Studio students and faculty have been working, studying and 21 00:01:15,233 --> 00:01:17,500 living in Hale County, Alabama. 22 00:01:17,500 --> 00:01:22,500 Some call it a lesson in social design, using architecture to serve the greater good. 23 00:01:24,666 --> 00:01:27,333 Rural Studio's director is Andrew Freear. 24 00:01:27,333 --> 00:01:31,166 ANDREW FREEAR, Director, Rural Studio: There's this sort of feeling that everybody deserves 25 00:01:31,166 --> 00:01:36,166 good design, and whether they're rich, poor, black, white, pink, or green. 26 00:01:38,100 --> 00:01:41,466 JOHN YANG: Zinnerman's house is part of the studio's 20K Project, launched in 2005, with 27 00:01:43,433 --> 00:01:47,233 the goal of producing residences that would cost $20,000 to build, 20K. 28 00:01:49,733 --> 00:01:53,933 More than two dozen different homes have been designed, constructed and given to residents. 29 00:01:55,166 --> 00:01:58,066 Most are one-bedroom, about 500 square feet. 30 00:01:58,066 --> 00:02:00,800 Each design is named for the recipient. 31 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:05,800 There's Johnnie Mae's House, Buster's house, and next to Ree's House, Geraldine's House. 32 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:10,000 That's Zinnerman's younger sister, Geraldine Braxton. 33 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:13,133 GERALDINE BRAXTON, Rural Studio Client: The day he gave me the keys to the door, I couldn't 34 00:02:13,133 --> 00:02:15,900 even open the door, I was shaking so. 35 00:02:15,900 --> 00:02:17,366 I was happy. 36 00:02:17,366 --> 00:02:19,533 JOHN YANG: Braxton has lived here for two years. 37 00:02:19,533 --> 00:02:22,800 The retired school cafeteria worker loves her kitchen 38 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:25,366 GERALDINE BRAXTON: I like everything about it, the way it's set up. 39 00:02:25,366 --> 00:02:27,400 I like my island in the center of the kitchen. 40 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:32,100 JOHN YANG: Braxton's new energy-efficient house puts less strain on her wallet. 41 00:02:32,100 --> 00:02:37,066 Her previous home was poorly insulated, it cost her hundreds of dollars a month to keep 42 00:02:37,066 --> 00:02:39,333 cool in the summer and warm in the winter. 43 00:02:39,333 --> 00:02:43,466 GERALDINE BRAXTON: I was spending like about $350 on gas in the winter every month. 44 00:02:43,466 --> 00:02:44,800 JOHN YANG: Three hundred fifty dollars a month? 45 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:46,833 GERALDINE BRAXTON: Every month for gas. 46 00:02:46,833 --> 00:02:50,466 JOHN YANG: While Rural Studios is helping improve the lives of local residents, the 47 00:02:50,466 --> 00:02:55,433 main focus is on training a new generation of architects whose social consciences are 48 00:02:56,333 --> 00:02:58,366 as strong as their aesthetics. 49 00:02:58,366 --> 00:03:02,433 ANDREW FREEAR: What we're trying to do is design a home that is easily built, and, again, 50 00:03:03,166 --> 00:03:05,200 easily maintained. 51 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:08,733 You know, our goal is to offer it up at some scale down the road, but we're determined 52 00:03:08,733 --> 00:03:12,066 to do it quietly and slowly and carefully. 53 00:03:12,066 --> 00:03:17,066 JOHN YANG: The idea is to give students a hands-on experience working with an underserved 54 00:03:18,500 --> 00:03:20,800 community in the heart of the South's Black Belt. 55 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:25,800 Hale County is one of the poorest in the state - - 24 percent of all residents live below 56 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:30,533 the poverty line, compared with about 13 percent nationwide. 57 00:03:30,533 --> 00:03:35,533 For African-Americans in the county, the rate is even higher, more than 35 percent. 58 00:03:37,533 --> 00:03:42,066 And in an area short on jobs, the population is dwindling, dropping 6 percent from 2010 59 00:03:43,033 --> 00:03:45,833 to 2017. 60 00:03:45,833 --> 00:03:50,833 Since the students live full-time in Newbern, some 140 miles from Auburn's main campus, 61 00:03:51,700 --> 00:03:54,033 they're seen not as outsiders. 62 00:03:54,033 --> 00:03:56,566 They're seen as neighbors. 63 00:03:56,566 --> 00:03:58,833 MARGARET "REE" ZINNERMAN: I think it makes a difference by them being part of the community, 64 00:03:58,833 --> 00:04:01,000 because they have really improved it. 65 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,566 JOHN YANG: And they ask their neighbors to suggest who could use a new house. 66 00:04:04,566 --> 00:04:07,466 GWEN MELTON, Mail Carrier: And it was just sad for anybody to be living in those conditions 67 00:04:07,466 --> 00:04:09,500 in these days and times. 68 00:04:09,500 --> 00:04:13,566 JOHN YANG: Who better to ask than Gwen Melton, who delivers mail to 483 homes in the Newbern 69 00:04:14,533 --> 00:04:17,466 area every day? 70 00:04:17,466 --> 00:04:21,933 For 10 years, she's quietly suggested potential clients to Rural Studio. 71 00:04:21,933 --> 00:04:26,933 And how does it make you feel when you go deliver the mail to that new house, knowing 72 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:29,600 what they had lived before? 73 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:32,000 GWEN MELTON: Makes me feel great. 74 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:37,000 JOHN YANG: The 20K Project began with lofty goals. 75 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:42,266 Rural Studio associate director Rusty Smith oversees the project. 76 00:04:42,266 --> 00:04:47,266 RUSTY SMITH, Rural Studio: We thought we were going to work for a year or two or maybe three, 77 00:04:49,300 --> 00:04:52,500 and it would solve all the problems of housing affordability in the United States. 78 00:04:52,500 --> 00:04:57,500 JOHN YANG: It didn't take them long to realize the hurdles to doing it on a bigger scale. 79 00:04:57,500 --> 00:05:01,066 RUSTY SMITH: We're in charge of the financing, and we're in this place where we live, and 80 00:05:01,066 --> 00:05:03,833 we have got student labor to do it and the faculty oversight. 81 00:05:03,833 --> 00:05:08,833 The challenges to scale, to kind of do this outside of our kind of operational footprint, 82 00:05:09,833 --> 00:05:11,866 are many. 83 00:05:11,866 --> 00:05:15,533 JOHN YANG: Still, they want the project to focus attention on the issues facing rural 84 00:05:15,533 --> 00:05:18,566 areas, not just in America, but around the world. 85 00:05:18,566 --> 00:05:23,566 ANDREW FREEAR: It's absolutely a Trojan horse for a whole bunch of issues about rural living 86 00:05:25,366 --> 00:05:27,133 that we're very interested in challenging and being a voice for. 87 00:05:27,133 --> 00:05:30,833 JOHN YANG: For instance, cell service in Newbern area is spotty. 88 00:05:30,833 --> 00:05:35,833 The town's new library, designed by the Rural Studio, is the only place high-speed Internet 89 00:05:36,766 --> 00:05:38,833 is available to the public. 90 00:05:38,833 --> 00:05:42,166 BARBARA WILLIAMS, Librarian: It makes you feel real good to be able to say that we have 91 00:05:42,166 --> 00:05:44,233 a library. 92 00:05:44,233 --> 00:05:47,166 JOHN YANG: Librarian Barbara Williams says that when the nearby high school closed five 93 00:05:47,166 --> 00:05:49,966 years ago, the town lost a community hub. 94 00:05:49,966 --> 00:05:54,966 BARBARA WILLIAMS: What the library is trying to do is to try to meet some of the needs 95 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:00,266 of the community that are being left, I guess left unmet with the closing of the high school. 96 00:06:04,733 --> 00:06:09,166 JOHN YANG: Across the street is Newbern's fire station. 97 00:06:09,166 --> 00:06:14,166 Built by the Rural Studio in 2004, it was the first new public building in the town 98 00:06:15,133 --> 00:06:17,933 in a century. 99 00:06:17,933 --> 00:06:22,933 Pat Braxton lost his job in 2013 when the factory where he worked the next town over 100 00:06:23,666 --> 00:06:25,166 went out of business. 101 00:06:25,166 --> 00:06:28,833 Now he's a volunteer firefighter and Newbern's handyman. 102 00:06:28,833 --> 00:06:33,033 Before, the nearest fire station was 15 minutes away. 103 00:06:33,033 --> 00:06:36,900 PATRICK BRAXTON, Handyman: By having this truck right here in Newbern, we saved a lot 104 00:06:36,900 --> 00:06:38,133 of houses. 105 00:06:38,133 --> 00:06:40,233 We saved a lot of people's lives. 106 00:06:40,233 --> 00:06:43,900 JOHN YANG: And saved Newbern homeowners a lot of money, reducing insurance premiums. 107 00:06:46,266 --> 00:06:49,933 Like all of Rural Studio's projects, style also has function: There are no fire hydrants 108 00:06:51,933 --> 00:06:55,600 in Newbern, so the fire trucks carry their own water, and have to be kept from freezing 109 00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:57,100 in the winter. 110 00:06:57,100 --> 00:07:00,800 ANDREW FREEAR: It's not just it looks funky and it look cool. 111 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:05,033 It's very much about making sure that those fire trucks don't freeze and that that space 112 00:07:05,033 --> 00:07:07,100 is temperate throughout the year. 113 00:07:07,100 --> 00:07:11,833 JOHN YANG: Ree Zinnerman gave students free rein to design her house, except for one detail. 114 00:07:13,533 --> 00:07:15,133 MARGARET "REE" ZINNERMAN: A red door. 115 00:07:15,133 --> 00:07:17,166 And my momma always loved red. 116 00:07:17,166 --> 00:07:21,366 JOHN YANG: For Zinnerman, the greatest relief is simply having a well-designed, well-built 117 00:07:22,100 --> 00:07:24,066 house to live in. 118 00:07:24,066 --> 00:07:27,766 For Rural Studio, it's about more than just solving a housing problem. 119 00:07:27,766 --> 00:07:32,766 RUSTY SMITH: Solving problems sort of imagines the future as broken and it needs to be fixed. 120 00:07:34,300 --> 00:07:38,600 I don't think there's anything broken here. 121 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:42,566 But there's some really significant purposes that need to be served. 122 00:07:42,566 --> 00:07:47,566 JOHN YANG: A lesson for students in helping an underserved community and helping the community 123 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:52,933 learn how to better serve itself. 124 00:07:52,933 --> 00:07:56,533 For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm John Yang in Newbern, Alabama.