Housing
A look at how federal plans could make the costs of housing more affordable?
As renters and would-be homeowners struggle with the high cost of housing, the Biden administration has announced policies to address this strain on household budgets. That includes $100 million in funding for a program to incentivize affordable housing production and streamlining loan application processes to expedite building more housing. Some of those proposals – such […]
KY housing shortage will worsen without action, low-income renters most vulnerable, says study
LOUISVILLE — A leader of a national real estate research firm says if no action is taken over the next five years on Kentucky’s housing shortage, more Kentuckians could be forced to live in substandard housing, live with family or friends in crowded spaces, deal with severe housing costs or become homeless. Patrick Bowen, the […]
Kentucky’s housing shortages receive legislative scrutiny
Kentucky doesn’t have enough housing. On that even the state’s lawmakers can agree. But the reasons for the shortages differ from community to community, exacerbated by natural disasters in some counties and a booming economy in others.? A task force, established by the GOP-dominated legislature earlier this year to better understand the state’s housing needs, […]
The rural Americans too poor for federal flood protections
This story was produced through a collaboration between the Daily Yonder, which covers rural America, and Climate Central, a nonadvocacy science and news group. On the day he would become homeless, Wesley Bryant was awoken by his wife, Alexis. “Get up,” she told him. “There’s a flood outside.” It was 8 a.m. on a Thursday […]
Beshear promises better times for ravaged region on flood’s second anniversary
WAYLAND, Ky. – Gov. Andy Beshear promised a different future for Eastern Kentucky as he made five stops in the region Friday to signal the weekend’s second anniversary of record floods on the night of July 27-28, 2022. In the little Floyd County town of Wayland, Beshear dedicated 11 homes that he said would be […]
Nonprofits team with state, federal governments to tackle housing shortage in Eastern Kentucky
A religiously oriented group using volunteers from many states is doing much of the housing recovery work in flood-ravaged Eastern Kentucky. The Appalachia Service Project has completed 24 new homes and fully repaired 40 more for flood survivors in Breathitt, Harlan, Knott, Leslie, Magoffin and Perry counties since the flood two years ago.? ASP has […]
Eastern Kentuckian who lost his wife, house in 2022 flood grateful for new home on high ground
Farmer Baker was holding on for his life, clutching a pair of post hole diggers, on the night of July 27-28, 2022, as part of Eastern Kentucky’s record flooding swept through his garage on Lower River Caney in Breathitt County. He had already watched the waters sweep away his wife, Vanessa, the only one of […]
Kentucky investing $223 million to rebuild rental housing in tornado-impacted Western Kentucky?
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear alongside leaders from the state’s housing corporation and local communities on Monday announced more than $223 million in bonds and grants will be invested to replenish rental housing in Bowling Green and other Western Kentucky communities impacted by tornadoes.? Much of the region’s rental housing stock, particularly homes accessible to low-income […]
10 homes dedicated in Mayfield for tornado survivors
Ten families who survived the 2021 tornadoes in Mayfield received keys to new homes on Friday thanks to $1 million from the Team Western Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund, Gov. Andy Beshear’s office announced.? The Hope Initiative, a coalition of local pastors and businesses, partnered to build these homes and others — a total of 42 […]
‘Effectively dead,’ housing discrimination laws in Louisville, Lexington fall to veto override
FRANKFORT — The GOP-dominated Kentucky legislature overrode Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of a bill targeting local source-of-income discrimination bans just a day after the governor had issued the veto.? House Bill 18, sponsored by Rep. Ryan Dotson, R-Winchester, immediately became law Wednesday because of an emergency clause in the bill.? In a gathering with […]
Beshear’s first veto would protect local housing discrimination laws
FRANKFORT — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear told a crowd gathered to commemorate a historic civil rights march that he has vetoed a bill that would preempt local anti-discrimination ordinances.? It’s the governor’s first veto of this legislative session. Critics have warned the bill would preempt local ordinances in Kentucky’s largest cities prohibiting discrimination against tenants […]
Senate passes another bill critics say would override Lexington’s new tenant protections
FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Senate approved a House bill Tuesday that critics say would override protections for tenants against discrimination based on their source of income in Kentucky’s two largest cities. The Senate approved a similar bill of its own last month, and the debate Tuesday on House Bill 18, sponsored by Rep. Ryan Dotson, […]