In the last decade, 121 houses have been built in Ponca City, a municipality of 24,000 people.

The Ponca City Development Authority is dedicating $1 million to housing projects over the next three years to fuel the area’s growth and address the city’s housing shortage.

Like other rural areas and communities, Lori Henderson, the authority’s executive director, said housing is a challenge in the city because houses sell for more in other, more populated areas.

“So those developers are clearly going to go where they know they can make more money and a lot of times it isn't in rural Oklahoma,” Henderson said.

She said the city is short on housing, and the last major housing development was built in the 1980s. Henderson said her organization hopes to see more single-family homes or even duplexes built.

“You know, your city is going to tear down old derelict houses, so we lose some houses that way,” Henderson said. “And then, we just haven't had any building.”

Rural areas have been plagued with housing problems for years, from the quality and price of housing to housing availability, according to the Rural Housing Coalition.

Ponca City has offered a housing incentive program for a while, and Henderson said the $1 million investment doubles the city’s stimulus for developers.

The money is through the authority’s reserve fund. So far, one project to add four houses in the city has been approved. Henderson said the houses are on the upper end of the price range.

“But we still think that if somebody can move into those then whatever houses they're vacating, then other people can move into those more economical houses. Kind of a domino effect,” Henderson said.