Courtesy of Kentucky Lantern
Republican lawmakers joined housing advocates from across Kentucky to tout legislation addressing the state’s significant housing shortage, though lawmakers offered few specifics on what they will propose.
Kentucky Senate Majority Caucus Chair Robby Mills, R-Henderson, told advocates and reporters Tuesday morning that two “very good” reports from the legislature’s housing task force validated “the facts that we need more housing in the state of Kentucky.”
The task force, which met a number of times last year, issued recommendations in November, including easing regulations on housing developers and strongly considering providing funding to incentivize housing and infrastructure construction.
“There are several bills, there are several budget requests that have already been made,” said Mills, co-chair of the task force. “I’m really excited. Hopefully you’ll see some of these bills start rolling out here in the next week or so.”
Kentucky needs more than 200,000 housing units, including rentals and homes for sale, according to a national research firm hired by the Kentucky Housing Corp. The firm found that the gap could grow to more than 287,000 units by 2029 without efforts to build or repair housing; low-income renters could be particularly impacted by the growing shortage.
Housing advocates emphasized the need for more funding to build housing.
Housing advocates in previous years have come before the GOP-controlled legislature, in the wake of past catastrophic flooding and tornado outbreaks, asking for hundreds of millions of dollars to provide the resources for nonprofit housing builders to build homes in disaster-impacted communities.
Republican lawmakers have turned down those requests for large infusions of funding, citing concerns about whether local housing developers have the capacity to adequately use allocated funds.
Lawmakers have created the Rural Housing Trust Fund—another vehicle to support housing construction alongside the state’s longstanding Affordable Housing Trust Fund—in addition to allocating smaller infusions of funding to the trust funds. The legislature also passed a bill last year to prevent local governments from implementing certain restrictions on manufactured housing.
Scott McReynolds, the executive director of the Perry County-based Housing Development Alliance, said “the housing supply gap is not a capacity issue—it is a resource issue.”
His nonprofit is one the eastern Kentucky housing developers that have been rebuilding homes on higher ground after past catastrophic floods.
“Can you spend that money? It’s a legitimate question,” McReynolds said. “But what’s been proven in eastern Kentucky in the flood recovery, and what has been proven in western Kentucky and the tornado recovery is when resources are available, communities find the capacity to build the housing.”
Gov. Andy Beshear in his budget proposal called for a one-time $150 million allocation to go into the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, a pool of monies the Kentucky Housing Corp. manages to help subsidize housing projects. The allocation would come from the Budget Reserve Trust Fund, also known as the state’s “rainy day” fund, which has billions of dollars available.
Asked about conversations around a potential one-time allocation for housing, George Eklund, director of education and advocacy at the Coalition for the Homeless in Louisville, said his organization is focused on increasing fees that provide sustainable funds to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
The trust fund receives regular funds through fees on real estate transactions, though advocates say funding from those fees has waned.
“We know that we need housing, and it is a point of crisis. So I would welcome any kind of one-time infusions to the trust fund,” Eklund said. “We personally are focusing on the fee increase, just so that we have a sustainable, modernized funding structure.”
Eklund said increasing fees would increase available funds to the trust fund annually by $10 million and develop 6,000 units over the next 10 years.
Lawmakers also touted legislation that didn’t see passage in last year’s session, such as a bill allowing religious organizations more flexibility to build housing on land they own. It’s a concept known as “God’s Backyard.”
“It’s about empowering faith-based institutions and churches to use their land to serve these means. Houses of worship and religious organizations want to help,” said Rep. Sarge Pollock, R-Campbellsville.
Rep. Susan Witten, R-Louisville, the co-chair of the legislature’s housing task force, told the gathered audience she also planned to file a bill that would automatically seal evictions from someone’s record if they’ve been dismissed.
“Even when a case is dismissed, it can follow individuals for years, showing up on their background checks and limiting their housing options,” Witten said. “Housing stability strengthens families and it supports our workforce.”
Among the advocates gathered by the state capitol building included those who lost homes in natural disasters Kentuckians have grappled with.
Missy Sexton, who lives in a rebuilt home out of the floodplain in Perry County supported by funding from the Rural Housing Trust Fund, told reporters she supports more funding because of the sheer need for stable housing she sees from her neighbors.
“When you do something good for one of us, it’s a ripple effect because we take care of each other,” Sexton said. “Every person in southeast Kentucky, they deserve safe housing.”
Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
