The Kentucky Housing Task Force presented its final report to the Legislative Research Commission (LRC) Tuesday afternoon. The LRC directed the creation of the task force to meet during the 2024 interim and charged it with the study and review of Kentuckians’ current and future housing needs in cities of all sizes across the commonwealth. The 10-member task force began meeting in June of this year and convened six times before finalizing the report.
Kentucky currently faces a shortfall of approximately 206,000 housing units, according to the report. Those units include rental properties and owned properties. Wendy K. Smith, deputy executive director of housing programs for the Kentucky Housing Corporation, explained in the report that the shortage does not indicate that 206,000 households are without housing. Instead, the number also includes those who live with roommates or family members and desire housing more in line with their needs. Officials from northern Kentucky stated that a report conducted by a consulting group indicates that the region would need to build an additional 6,650 housing units to meet the demand over the next five years. Smith presented information indicating that Kentucky’s shortfall is projected to reach 287,000 units in five years if trends continue.
The report states that a shortfall in housing units in Kentucky has led to an increase in renter and owner households that are considered cost burdened, where more than 30% of income goes toward housing costs, and those classified as severely cost burdened, indicating that more than 50% of their income goes toward housing costs. Cities of all sizes are impacted by housing issues, and the report states that “while the total cost-burdened population in the state is concentrated in more urban areas, the proportion of households that are cost-burdened is greater than 20% in both rural, suburban, and urban counties throughout the state.”
Senator Jimmy Higdon (R-Lebanon) said this has been an interesting task force to serve on. “We have learned a lot about the crisis and how, I guess it’s much bigger than most realize,” he stated. “I don’t think there’s one solution that we talked about that will solve our situation of the housing crisis, which probably the roots of it go back to around 2008. It’s like a snowball – it’s been getting bigger and bigger. We’ve had a lot of suggestions and a lot of things we’ve looked at. Hopefully in this next session we’ll see some legislation that will help us on our housing issue.”
Representative Lindsey Burke (D-Lexington) said it has been an incredible honor to serve on this task force because of all of the problems facing Kentuckians. “I think we have put a fine enough point to realize that this is an issue facing communities across the state, that families in every municipality – small towns, large, and even our largest cities – are struggling to keep roofs over their heads, and it’s because we simply don’t have enough roofs to go around.”
The Kentucky League of Cities Board of Directors has voted to engage the important topic of housing and be prepared to be a primary participant in conversations regarding the housing shortage. KLC supports housing policies that ensure land use laws and planning and zoning regulations are made at the local level and based on both local goals and values. KLC opposes any effort to preempt or mandate outcomes in local land use decisions and supports local policies that create additional housing options that reflect local values and goals and will leverage state programs and funding to move forward more quickly.
See the complete Kentucky Housing Task Force Report here.
