With that comes rising homelessness
(This article first appeared in the October print edition of the Hendersonian.)
Local advocates say that Henderson’s housing market is in a crisis, reflected in the number of homeless people that they are recording and a lack of anywhere they can go.
Henderson’s recent H-Count, occurring Sept. 19 in which officials counted the number of homeless at an event at the Henderson County Public Library and later outside around the county, 230 people were counted as homeless.
Melissa Collier, the homeless case manager for the Daniel Pitino Shelter-Henderson, said organizers tallied 101 homeless at the library and 93 more sleeping outside as well as 23 sleeping at the Harbor House and 13 at the Fr. Bradley Shelter for Women and Children.
When asked if she believes there are more, she replied, “I’m certain there is.”
To support that, Collier said in her work with the shelter from June 2024 through June 2025, she served 356 people who were homeless and 374 more who were at risk of becoming homeless.
Collier said local housing is “definitely a crisis and a shortage.”
“There’s nothing to rent even if you had money to rent,” she added.
Additionally, Collier recently toured some rental units and found that many weren’t fit to live in, she said.
It’s a problem that’s been growing for years, and local officials are aware of it. City of Henderson officials have continually looked for ways to increase housing in the community, including striking a deal with Jagoe Homes several years back for the developer to build a 300-plus home subdivision behind Walmart.
According to recent building permits issued by the city, pricetags for most of the Jagoe homes currently being built in that subdivision range from the high-$200,000 to low- to mid-$300,000.
That’s priced higher than what most Henderson residents can pay, and yet according to data from the Kentucky Housing Corporation, Henderson still needs more homes in this price range—and in every other price range. And more apartments, too.
Matt Reynolds, the chief operating officer of Habitat For Humanity of Henderson, pointed to several statistics on the KHC website that are telling. Starting with statewide statistics from 2024, KHC data show that there was a shortage of 206,207 units last year—101,569 rental units and 104,638 for-sale units.
Similar ratios bear out in Henderson County. Last year, Henderson County needed 1,009 rental units and 968 for-sale units, a total of 1,977 units, according to KHC.
Projections don’t appear to offer hope it’s going to get better. The KHC predicts that the total number of housing units needed in Henderson County in 2029 is 2,667—1,510 rental units and 1,157 for-sale units.
Reynolds said some might argue that the current and the projected numbers can be considered a crisis, but “anyone would admit there’s a shortage. Nobody can deny that.”
Many factors affect housing in a community. Not having enough housing across all the different price ranges is one of them, Reynolds said. He describes a downward push in the housing market that eventually squeezes the lowest income workers out of the market.
For example, if there’s an inadequate number of homes in the high-end price range—homes that normally are sold to people whose salaries are in the +151% or higher of adjusted median income—then those who would normally buy in that range will purchase in the price range below.
It’s the same for people in the 121%-150% adjusted median income. If they can’t find something that suits their salary, they’ll find something suitable for those in the salary range below them. And on the push continues until there’s nothing left for those at the bottom half of the scale.
“Eventually that pushes someone out,” Reynolds said. That leads them to search for rentals.
Rental prices, according to Collier, are already out of range.
A look at the fair market rent for Henderson County in 2025 on a Housing and Urban Development website shows that fair market rent for an efficiency is $780; a one-bedroom is $821; a two-bedroom is $1,054; a three-bedroom is $1,300; and a four-bedroom is $1,473.
Collier said that’s way out of range for most she works with, and those that may be Section 8 are all taken.
As mentioned above, it’s not just a Henderson County issue, but a state and national issue as well. State Sen. Robby Mills is the co-chair of the Kentucky Housing Task Force, a committee created by Kentucky legislators to look for ways to solve housing shortages.
In a recent interview with the Hendersonian, Mills said that Kentucky’s housing shortage, currently at just over 200,000, could grow to 300,000 in a matter of years.
To get more homes to market more quickly, Mills said legislators are looking at implementing a low-interest revolving loan fund for residential infrastructure in which developers can borrow money to build water and sewer lines.
The task force is also looking at implementing regulations that can help in getting more housing on less land, Mills said. Those could include zoning laws that require less sideyard on lots, which would allow for more homes on available land. It is also looking at regulations regarding auxiliary units, such as mother-in-law suites.
Mills said that some developers have not been looking for new developments recently and they want to get back in the game but need some encouragement.
He agreed there’s a pent-up demand and a shortage of housing in Henderson. Rent prices that were $600-$700 five years ago are now $1,100 or $1,200, Mills said.
The political question is how much incentive the government should offer, he said. But he did say that incentives on building infrastructure—water, sewer, gas—needs to be one thing allowed all across the state so that houses can be built more quickly.
Reynolds said Habitat is trying to find houses in disrepair that people might want to sell so that it can tear them down and build on the land. He said the Housing Authority of Henderson is also always looking for properties.
Habitat and the city of Henderson have signed an agreement in which both contribute $100,000 in the next five years to identify and then obtain blighted properties in hopes of rebuilding on them. Habitat is also working with county government and has recently begun work on a home in Robards and a home in Corydon.
And he has said that he has been looking into erecting manufactured and modular homes as a way to get more homes built more quickly.
Additionally, the Henderson City Commission at its Sept. 9 meeting sent a proposed ordinance regarding tiny homes to the Henderson City-County Planning Commission seeking a recommendation. City Attorney Dawn Kelsey said the city currently doesn’t have an ordinance for tiny homes and the city codes department has been receiving requests to construct them.
Kelsey also said that the city will be watching what the Kentucky General Assembly does in its next session starting in January regarding housing and will be ready to change local ordinances to coincide with any laws the legislature may pass.
Reynolds believes any progress in the community will come from local organizations and government working together.
“It’s going to take a collective buy-in from a lot of people to move the needle,” Reynolds said.
