Though single-family homes have been touted for years as providing the best housing for low-income rural Americans, such housing projects no longer make sense economically for most rural poor, says a UC Davis professor of environmental design. Better options now include smaller, pre-manufactured dwellings on denser sites, suggests Patricia Harrison, who designs housing and furniture for low-income and farmworker families. "It may seem regressive to back away from the dream of a single-family home for every low-income rural family. However, the realities of current economic conditions and the increasing numbers of very low-income residents in the rural setting, make the search for alternatives practical and worthy," Harrison says, in an article for an upcoming book on the rural housing crisis in California. "These new housing forms provide the first rung on the ladder to the American dream of having a single-family home." Though Harrison advocates smaller, denser housing, such projects must meet certain "non-architectural" goals, including having high-quality management and support for the residents; providing for privacy for those who want it and social spaces, such as play areas for children; remaining residential rather than "barracks-style" in character and having a neighborhood identity that respects the surrounding homes.