(LEX 18) — Kentucky House Democrats want to use some of the money in the state's rainy-day fund to address the housing crisis.
According to the state's housing task force, Kentucky is short 206,000 housing units. Housing advocates say that number will increase over the next few years.
"By 2029, this number is projected to grow by 40% to 287,000 units," said Tony Curtis with the Metropolitan Housing Coalition.
So, Rep. Joshua Watkins filed House Bill 583 "to leverage budget-reserve dollars in a way that would maximize their use by developers, local governments, non-profits and homeowners alike through an array of grants, revolving loans and tax credits." The bill is being called the Kentucky Housing Opportunity Act.
The bill's main focus is $100 million for a new affordable housing loan fund to help local governments, businesses, and housing assistance organizations build or rehabilitate homes for families earning up to 100 percent of their area’s median income.
Democrats say this would complement the work of the Kentucky Housing Corporation, which has directly helped first-time home buyers and others needing housing assistance for more than 50 years.
Another $4 million in the bill would be split evenly to help reduce homelessness and to assist families with home repairs, while additional tax credits would make more homes energy efficient, according to the bill's sponsors.
“The lack of affordable housing is one of the most persistent challenges we face as a nation,” Rep. Watkins said. “Recent studies indicate Kentucky alone needs more than 200,000 homes to meet current needs, and that number is only projected to grow if we don’t act. With billions of dollars sitting idle in our ‘Rainy Day’ fund, we believe everyone would be better served by putting a small portion of that to work right now. This may not be a budget session, but there is no need to wait another year to do this.”
If Kentucky doesn't take action soon, Watkins says rent will get more expensive, and people looking to buy a home will struggle, too.
"We all know that the real estate market in this state has been bananas," he said. "I'm also a licensed realtor and I've had clients and several other folks searching for housing for years. And [they] still can't get to due to competition and whatnot - simply because we don't have enough supply."
