News from rural America.

Rural folks could soon be shut out of loans for natural disasters if Project 2025 has its way, Taos, New Mexico weighs options for its housing shortage, and the top states providing America's Christmas trees revealed.

TRANSCRIPT

For the Daily Yonder and public news service, this is the news from rural America.

Federal natural disaster aid could be slashed or eliminated if president-elect Donald Trump follows the conservative Project 2025 playbook.

Although rural America represents a smaller portion of the total population, Natalie Baker, with the Center for American Progress, says four in 10 communities most at risk from natural disasters are rural.

If this administration were to follow through, it's going to leave rural communities in a very financially vulnerable position.

Trump initially distanced himself from Project 2025, but has since named a lead architect to head the Office of Management and Budget.

The plan recommends ending the Small Business Administration's direct lending program, which can be used for financial losses not covered by insurance or federal emergency payouts.

Meanwhile, climate change is making weather events more destructive and costly.

Baker says rural communities often are the most exposed, but have less money to respond.

A lot of households and businesses do not have the financial resilience to support the recovery and rebuild following a natural disaster.

Communities large and small have housing shortages, but a Southwest rural nonprofit may have some answers.

Anya Sapien explains.

Taos, New Mexico is known for year-round outdoor recreation and its vibrant arts and culture scene, but a lack of affordable housing is threatening the wellbeing of the community because workers, from teachers to cardiologists, can't find a place to live.

We have vacancies in our school districts and we have vacancies in our healthcare system and we have vacancies across the board.

They can't live here because they can't afford to live here.

Lisa O'Brien is the director of the nonprofit Taos Housing Partnership.

She says there's no single solution, but combining policies like mortgage assistance programs, zoning for more density, and government subsidies for land and infrastructure can help.

There's a lot of little things that you can do that if you do 10 of those little things may add up to getting someone into a home.

I'm Anya Sapien.

Between 25 and 30 million Christmas trees are sold in the US each year, but where do they come from?

Daily Yonder data reporter, Sarah Malott, analyzed the USDA data and found a third come from Oregon.

Oregon sold $161 million in trees in 2022, which was the last year of available data.

North Carolina was a close second, selling a quarter of the nation's trees, with Michigan next.

Malott says the economic benefits of Christmas tree farms go beyond just sales.

They also provide agritourism dollars when visitors stop at Cut Your Own Farms for lunch or shopping during their trips.

For the Daily Yonder and Public News Service, I'm Roz Brown.

For more rural stories, visit dailyyonder.com.