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S5:25 - Rural Housing Data with Ben Winchester


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One of our favorite guests is back! Ben Winchester is a rural researcher who digs into the intersection of housing, demographics, and community vitality. In this episode, we’re going over some of his latest research and the trends he’s seeing, and why now is the time to make plans for growing our small towns. There are tons of opportunities, but we have to go out and grab them!


Our favorite thing about Ben is that he provides context and action around data (even tough data!) and provides communities with real options for addressing some of their most pressing concerns, like housing and aging populations.

About Ben:

Benjamin Winchester is a Rural Sociologist with the University of Minnesota Extension, Department of Community Development


Ben has been working both in and for small towns across the Midwest for around 30 years. He lives in St. Cloud, Minnesota with his wife and two children. Ben is trained as a Rural Sociologist and works in the Extension Department of Community Development at the University of Minnesota. He conducts applied research on economic, social, and demographic topics surrounding a theme of “rewriting the rural narrative” and received the Rural Renewal Research Prize in 2021 for this work.

In this episode, you'll hear:

  • How “peak death” and the baby boomer generation are reshaping rural housing markets

  • Why the “policy of best intentions” to age in place often backfires, and how to plan around it

  • The economic power of housing as a growth engine, not just a community need

  • What Otter Tail County did to successfully grow its population through proactive housing investment

  • Why “the army of the willing” drives real community change.


Links and Resources Mentioned:

Ben’s “Brain Gain” landing page which contains articles, podcasts, and research papers. http://z.umn.edu/braingain

Rural Rebound Initiative overview video https://youtu.be/eC6BPMjKWIM

Cory Hepola - My Town episode 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIfukaV3yuM

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This week's Small Town Shout-Out is:

Stratford, SD! Christy shares that her biggest source of pride in Stratford is the community theater. It pulls together people from all different parts of the community while doing something they love and celebrating art, and we love that people get to do that. Heck yeah, Stratford!


We want to hear from you!

We really, really do, and if you’ll let us, we’d love to feature your actual message just like we did with Terri’s last week (with your permission, of course!) 

Some of the best parts about radio shows and podcasts are listener call-ins, so we’ve decided to make those a part of the Growing Small Towns Podcast. We really, really want to hear from you! We’re have two “participation dance” elements of the show: 

  1. “Small town humblebrags”: Call in and tell us about something amazing you did in your small town so we can celebrate with you. No win is too small—we want to hear it all, and we will be excessively enthusiastic about whatever it is! You can call in for your friends, too, because giving shout-outs is one of our favorite things. 

  2. “Solving Your Small-Town People Challenges”: Have a tough issue in your community? We want to help. Call in and tell us about your problem, and we’ll solve it on an episode of the podcast. Want to remain anonymous? Totally cool, we can be all secretive and stuff. We’re suave like that. 

If you’ve got a humblebrag or a tricky people problem, call 701-203-3337 and leave a message with the deets. We really can’t wait to hear from you! 

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Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Growing Small Towns Show! If the information in our conversations and interviews has helped you in your small town, please click on the images below for Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or Spotify, subscribe to the show, and leave us an honest review. Your reviews and feedback will not only help us continue to deliver relevant, helpful content, but it will also help us reach even more small-town trailblazers just like you!




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