Deaton and Hanrahan provided an excellent report on the situation of housing in Central Appalachia. Their arguments concerning the implications to be drawn from the situation are that Central Appalachia had a disproportionate share of substandard housing in 1960 and 1970, examination of some barriers to increase housing construction indicates that public policy has not been effective in reaching the very poor, and therefore, public housing policy should be altered.

Three questions may be raised that need to be answered before implementing new public housing policy for Central Appalachia.