A deep exploration of housing in NKY | by Michael Monks
It’s hard to drive through Northern Kentucky’s urban cities without noticing the number of construction projects underway. The River City renaissance over the past decade has led to the launch of numerous businesses and residential developments, reversing a long trend of declining populations and investment.
But though the housing stock has improved downtown in recent years – with sleek designs and proximity to all these new amenities – the cost to live there is rising rapidly, pricing many current and would-be residents out of the market, or in some cases, out of their homes.
In Newport, the Victoria Square apartment community was shocked to learn in July of its sale to a Cincinnati-based development firm. The sprawling community with hundreds of units had been promoted for decades as “an affordable place to live.” And despite the construction of mega-projects like Ovation – with its new outdoor concert venue and forthcoming high-end condos and hotel – the rents remained accessible to people with relatively low or fixed incomes.
That changed earlier this summer when Victoria Square residents were notified that they would need to leave as the renaissance finally caught up with the buildings, now set to be transformed into more expensive housing for higher-income individuals.
While any move can be disruptive, stressful and in many cases, emotional, it has possibly never been more challenging in an environment where local rents are rapidly approaching a median monthly price north of $1,800.
Newport officials heard from Victoria Square residents at a city commission meeting last week where longtime tenants decried a perceived lack of responsive action in the aftermath of their evictions.
“I didn’t want to come up here and cry, but that’s the only thing I can do right now,” Yvonne Chandler, a Victoria Square resident, said to city leaders.
Newport is not alone. Across the riverfront cities of Covington, Newport, Bellevue, and Dayton, new or forthcoming residential projects tout all the joy of urban living as these communities return to life. Companies are relocating to the cities motivated by the urban transformation in Northern Kentucky – and also often by the lucrative tax incentives offered by the local and state governments for businesses and residential development projects.
Covington, which was once had three low-income housing projects in the city, will see one of its remaining two demolished in the near future. With designated subsidized or section-8 property communities vanished, the city has even offered cash payments to property owners who would become landlords of a section-8 home.
In the meantime, the city has seen its average rent cost spike in recent years.
Zumper, an online platform specializing in rental searches for prospective residents, calculates median rents in cities across the country. As of August 20, Zumper estimated the median rent for a one-bedroom unit in Covington to be $1,755.
Just eight years ago, the site shows that the median rent for such an apartment in the city was less than $600.
In Newport, the median price is higher as of Aug. 20, with a one-bedroom unit’s median rent shown as $1,937, according to Zumper.
Access to an affordable home to rent – defined by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) as one that costs less than 30 percent of a household’s income – is not just an urban problem. Northern Kentucky suburbs are also seeing higher costs, along with new developments targeting renters with a need for affordability. That includes affluent suburbs like Walton as well as Highland Heights where a newer project seeks to provide more affordable housing to Northern Kentucky University students.
LINK nky explored some of the challenges facing the region and its housing affordability issues. Here is what we found.
Newport’s development success is not without a downside for lower-income residents | By Haley Parnell
The City of Newport has 309 affordable housing units; as of the 2020 Census, there were 3,689 people in poverty in the city.
The recent vacate notices sent to Victoria Square residents have sparked a broader conversation in the city about affordable housing.
Newport City Commissioner Ken Rechtin admitted the situation at Victoria Square had unveiled a flaw in affordable housing in the area.
“It has exposed something to me in my understanding,” Rechtin said at an NAACP meeting held for Victoria Square residents. “I thought Neighborhood Foundations (which administers the city’s housing programs), Brighton Center, and those agencies that did provide and do provide some supportive housing services were adequate. What it has exposed to me is that there are problems inherent in our system that does not treat all people fairly in housing.”
Rechtin said a regional discussion needs to be held to develop a better solution for affordable housing. He said the three fiscal courts in Boone, Kenton, and Campbell counties have to participate in the conversation for change to happen.
Kareem Simpson, who serves on the Kenton County Planning Commission and is a candidate for the Covington board of education, said many with key roles in planning for the regional community are unaware of the housing crisis.
“They have no idea that there is a housing crisis. And these are individuals that are deciding factors in our economic development,” Simpson said at the NAACP meeting on July 27. “I have no idea, and I’m sure it’s the same thing at the Campbell County fiscal court, as well.”
Neighborhood Foundations Executive Director Tom Guidugli, Sr. said the organization currently has 24 affordable housing units under construction.
Guidugli said they buy empty lots and old houses that they can tear down and build new, but that creating new units takes time.
They first must acquire the property, have the money available for the build, hire an architect, maintain the property while pulling a plan together, and then begin the construction process.
Guidugli said Newport and Covington take the brunt of the region’s affordable housing because many people don’t want it in their backyard.
Brighton Center Vice President Talia Frye said that the housing issue is also an economic development issue.
“When we think about the economic vitality of our community, housing has to be at the center,” Frye said. “When people don’t have a place to work and live and have their families, we’re not really able to have the workforce we need. When we think about employers who are clamoring right now for talent, and if you don’t have people work in their community, then we’re not going to really have people to fill the job.”
Frye said while economic progress has been fast in the river cities, there hasn’t been as much progress for people who have housing insecurity.
“There hasn’t necessarily been as much of a focus for affordable housing at the same time. When developments are coming in and eliminating housing, but that housing doesn’t replenish, then we’re in the state that we’re in,” Frye said. “And those river cities have experienced a lot of economic development, which is a good thing. As a community, we want progress, but we want progress to include everyone. It’s good for all of us when it is as inclusive as possible.”
Rechtin said it is “virtually impossible” for the city to step in and control developers from buying housing and flipping it for profit.
“There are pressures. We do live in a for-profit private property economy. And people see it’s beneficial to buy something up, to rehab it and to flip it or to do those things,” Rechtin said. “There are economic incentives for them to do it.”
Frye said Brighton Center is committed to creating more affordable housing, along with the 307 units they currently have.
Brighton Center partners with families to see what options exist for them, but there is not enough affordable housing currently available.
“I cannot overstate that there isn’t enough housing for people,” Frye said. “So, there is not a quick fix. We see many families who have Section 8 vouchers, but there aren’t enough landlords willing to accept Section 8. That is a real dynamic in our community, and so the options are limited.”
Guidugli echoed that statement. He said Section 8 is not competitive in the market anymore.
“Landlords are in the business to make money,” Guidugli said. “They don’t want HUD inspecting their properties.”
Guidugli said Neighborhood Foundations is offering $500 for every new unit placed in service as of Aug. 3, similar to Covington’s effort.
United Way Director of Community Change Amy Weber gave one resource at the NAACP meeting: to call 211. Dialing 211 on any phone connects people to call specialists that operate 24 hours daily to get people to the right resources. The number can be used in lieu of remembering every agency’s phone number in the area.
Another recommendation from Brighton Center Housing and Financial Wellness Director Diana Greene is to get on a waiting list for housing even if you currently don’t need it.
“Brighton Center has three senior buildings here locally, and while the waiting lists are at least a year long, we do recommend that individuals get on the waiting list,” Greene said. “I know that’s a hassle. Get on the waitlist for Section 8, get on the waitlist for senior housing. It’s better to be on the list and not need it than need it, and you never got on the list.”
Boone County growing rapidly, but also has its struggles | by Kaitlin Gebby
Boone County is the fourth-largest county in the Commonwealth, and U.S. Census data shows that around 8,775 people are living in poverty here.
In Boone County, the Housing Authority is seeing the majority of its housing vouchers expire before families can find a place to live.
The Boone County Housing Authority assists around 850 families, and an additional 150 applicants seeking help with affordable housing each month, according to Director Boubacar Diallo.
“Vouchers usually go unused because families can’t find a property owner that will accept the voucher,” Diallo said. “Usually when they do find an owner that will accept the voucher, there is generally a waiting list for the unit.”
He said the Housing Authority grants 40 vouchers a month. Vouchers can be used in market value complexes to make up the remaining cost of rent after the resident’s contribution. Residents have 60 days to find a place to live and use the voucher, which typically comes after an application, interview process and waiting period. Of those 40 vouchers issued each month, Diallo said only 10 are typically used, while the rest expire.
“These are some of the issues our families face, but the main one remains the lack of available units and the reluctance of property owners to accept the voucher,” Diallo said.
The Housing Authority is trying to provide access to housing through vouchers and security deposit assistance. Diallo said a federal program made available through the Kentucky Housing Authority will award Boone County $283,500 over three years. That money will in turn help families secure housing they otherwise could not afford, but Diallo knows it doesn’t fix everything.
“Rents are very high in this area. We have done a few things to be able to stay competitive but there are times when it is just not enough,” he said.
Are state’s efforts to address affordable housing enough? | by Mark Payne
At the Kentucky Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF) Committee meeting on July 26, members detailed the ways in which the state is helping people in Kentucky to obtain affordable housing. The General Assembly established the AHTF in 1992 to help very low-income Kentuckians with housing needs. This group typically includes those who are mentally and physically disabled and near homelessness.
The fund provides money to people at or below 60% of an area’s median income or 60% of Kentucky’s State Median Family Income. A preference is given to those falling below the 30% threshold.
Bridgette Wash-Quarles, the multifamily project specialist, detailed some of the affordable housing projects that the organization is currently being worked on.
“We have two different funding rounds,” Wash-Quarles said. “We have a non-credit and tax credit.”
One local project receiving a tax credit is Scheper Ridge, located in Florence. The project has 48 affordable housing units, with 29 one-bedroom and 19 two-bedroom units. The facility serves seniors.
Funding for the project breaks down as $748,800 in federal tax credits, $300,000 in AHTF, and $200,000 in HOME (a federal homebuyer assistance program) money as well.
The AHTF launched a program in February of 2022 called the Eviction Diversion Program, which works with those already in court due to eviction. It is a subset of their Healthy at Home Eviction Relief Program launched in 2021. The latter program helps those needing assistance on past rent and utility bills.
“This (EDP) is kind of a subset of HHERF,” said Wendy Smith, the deputy executive director of Housing Programs at the Kentucky Housing Corporation. “What it’s focused on doing is fast-tracking folks who are in the courts.”
The KHC launched this program with Kentucky’s Administrative Office of the Courts. A staff of 20 is present in courtrooms to offer assistance to landlords and tenants to prevent evictions. The EDP staff also works with court liaisons to expedite payments and applications.
“We have a handful of staff in Kentucky courts on the eviction docket days,” Smith said.
Covington soon to say goodbye to its hilltop City Heights housing project | by Kenton Hornbeck & Meghan Goth
Ebony Friday has lived at City Heights in Covington for 5 years. She works two jobs – at New Riff and as a home health aid.
She can’t afford daycare for her two kids, who are 5 and 14, which is why she has two part-time jobs.
She loves New Riff, where she works on the bottle line, checking labels and making sure the bottles aren’t defective. She said the company is lenient, and she has full benefits and a 401k plan.
But she is likely going to have to find somewhere else to work when the public housing community shuts down in the next few years.
“I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place,” Friday said.
According to Friday, no one communicated with her when she will be expected to move, and that not knowing when it could happen puts everything in her family’s life in the balance.
“We are only buying what we really need because we have to save all of our money to find somewhere else to live,” she said.
Residents were first informed in 2020 in a series of public meetings.
Benton Road leads to the community, which is a series of two-story brick buildings at the top of a hill. There is a small convenience store – which doesn’t look open but which residents say can offer the basics when a trip to Kroger isn’t in the cards – a church and a community building.
The public meetings took place in the community center, where residents were informed that it would be sold because the cost to modernize it versus the cost to modernize it is untenable, according to Steve Arlinghaus, a former judge/executive and now the executive director of the Housing Authority of Covington, which owns City Heights.
To completely modernize City Heights, “it would be $80 million. The cost of renovations versus the removal of the property is untenable at that cost,” Arlinghaus said.
From Friday’s perspective, finding apartments that accept Section 8 vouchers is proving difficult.
“I’m going to have to move out of town,” Friday said.
The process of moving residents out is expected to take three years.
Northern Kentucky’s urban cities like Covington and Newport provide the bulk of affordable housing options in the region.
“There’s a lot of scared or nervous folks that say, ‘Hey, this is great. I like this idea,'” said Gordon Henry, Dayton Housing Authority executive director and candidate for the Newport city commission. “‘I love the idea of affordable housing, but I don’t want it to be in my backyard. We don’t need it here.’”
Covington has 80 percent of the taxpayer subsidized housing while being home to only 24 percent of Kenton County’s population, according to Covington city officials.
In the wake of the Victoria Square Apartment sale in Newport, other Northern Kentucky communities have been paying attention on how to deal with the public fallout from such a situation.
In Covington, City Heights’ impending closure has drawn some parallels to the Victoria Square situation. But there are also differences. Victoria Square was sold to Cincinnati-based private developer Sunset Property Solutions.
The Housing Authority of Covington, or HAC, currently owns City Heights. Covington Mayor Joe Meyer is the chair of the HAC Board of Commissioners.
City Heights’ current affordable housing stock is obsolete and even dangerous to live in when judged by modern federal standards, Arlinghaus said.
“There are a litany of steps that we have to follow just to get the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s approval. We had to first off prove that City Heights was beyond repair, and so did that. We had that done,” Arlinghaus said. “We had a consulting company come in and did an evaluation of it, and determined it was gonna be in excess of $50 million to renovate City Heights to bring it up to proper standards.”
City Heights contains 360 units of affordable housing, many of which suffer from faulty electricity, outdated appliances, repeated code violations, and failed inspections.
“Every family deserves to live in a place where they can call home. Tragically, City Heights is not such a place and never will be, no matter how much money is thrown at it,” Meyer said. “It’s isolated, run-down, unsafe and founded on a long-failed model for public housing.”
According to Arlinghaus, approximately one-third of the residents living in City Heights are originally from Cincinnati. These residents had to find a new place to live when new developments and renovations to their neighborhoods in Cincinnati priced them out of their homes.
To aid in the moving process, HAC is distributing vouchers to City Heights residents in order to help them move and find a new place to live. The City of Covington is helping connect these residents to the vouchers, Arlinghuas said. While some vouchers allow residents to relocate to any section eight living facility in Kenton County, other vouchers such as Tenant Protection Vouchers allow residents to relocate anywhere within the United States.
“We did have a fair number of residents who wish to move back to Cincinnati. This voucher will allow them to cross state lines,” Arlinghaus said.
The City Heights relocation is on schedule to be completed in 2023. Right now, 160 of 360 units have been vacated.
Covington formed a consortium in 2008 with other cities in Northern Kentucky, notably Bellevue, Dayton, Ludlow and Newport. Funds for the consortium are allocated from HUD.
The Home Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) is a federal homebuyer assistance program that improves the affordable housing opportunities for individuals or families. The program can provide up to $7,500 to cover a down payment and other home purchase costs
The funds must be used to primarily benefit individuals or families who are homeless, at risk of homelessness and attempting to flee violent situations such as domestic violence and sexual assualt. Essentially, the funds would be used to provide supportive services or assistance to prevent the families homelessness, and provide them with greater housing stability.
Erlanger has recently joined the consortium.
“Owning a home is the American dream,” said Erlanger Mayor Jessica Fette.
As the river cities in Kenton and Campbell County become more desirable for developers, the land the affordable housing is built on becomes prime real estate. In the 1930s, Covington was 70 percent of Kenton County’s total population. This required Covington to build more affordable housing for residents, as many people’s jobs were located within the city. As the population has spread outward into the county, many jobs left these cities, leaving behind residents in these areas and devaluing home prices.
Economic developers have highlighted the importance of commercial growth within the urban areas of Northern Kentucky. As large development projects like Ovation in Newport spring up, the surrounding land, some of which includes affordable housing, becomes a target for economic development.
“Each city, especially the river cities, starts to continue to grow and build up. They’re running out of space to put big things. That’s one challenge,” Gordon Henry said.