The focus of housing research is set by the apparent scaling of hous-ing problems: where problems congregate, so too does the research community. The collective gaze of that community has been on cities dur-ing recent decades. The urban processes that have caused inequalities – across housing, education, healthcare and other domains – are critically important and the concentration of major stresses in large urban centres is undeniable. But another reality is that urbanisation – the movement of people and the concentration of attendant problems – has not been accompanied by the elimination of socio- economic challenges in rural areas, which remain home to a fifth of England’s population.