A new study shows Northern Kentucky made up about 12% of the state’s housing gap in early 2024, putting the tip of the state’s “golden triangle” near the top of a list of ten Kentucky counties with the greatest housing needs.
The housing supply gap analysis study, released this spring, shows Boone County with the largest overall housing gap in NKY with a shortage of 11,350 units or 5.5% of the state housing gap total, followed by Kenton County (9,157 units) at 4.4% and Campbell County (4,194) at 2%.
The study, which shows a gap of 206,207 homes statewide split almost 50/50 between rentals and owned homes, was released in mid-April by the Kentucky Housing Corporation, a quasi-governmental agency that offers affordable housing programs statewide.
Boone County was number three on the top 10 list, followed by Kenton County at number four and Campbell at number eight. Leading the top 10 were Jefferson and Fayette counties, both which form the other two points of the so-called golden triangle — the area bounded by NKY, Louisville and Lexington known historically as a center of Kentucky population growth and wealth. Jefferson County was first on the list at 19.4% with Fayette next at 10.9%.
Those counties, combined with NKY, make up 42.2% of the state’s housing gap, based on the analysis.
Wendy Smith, deputy director of housing programs with the Kentucky Housing Corporation, presented the study to state lawmakers Monday at the inaugural meeting of the state legislative Kentucky Housing Task Force, created earlier this year. According to Smith, the housing gap is a supply issue with not nearly enough low-rent housing for the lowest income earners and not enough owner or “for-sale” housing across all income levels.
Understanding NKY’s housing shortage
A study of housing in Northern Kentucky has revealed troubling trends for housing in the region, with the largest need being for “workforce housing” for households earning between $15 and $25 per hour, with monthly housing costs between $500 and $1,500. The region needs about 3,000 more housing units to provide for people within that income range, according to the study. The demand for one- to two-bedroom rentals and owned properties consistently exceeds their supply, while supply for three and four-bedroom properties consistently exceeds demand. The study suggests that the region needs to build 6,650 housing units to support economic development in the next five years, which equates to 1,330 units per year. Read more here.
In NKY, the study showed the greatest for-sale housing gap in Boone County (6,925 units) followed by Kenton County (4,342) and Campbell County (2,243). For rentals in NKY, the housing need was greatest in Kenton County (4,815 units) followed by Boone County (4,425), then Campbell County at 1,951, per the study.
“In our view, the housing supply shortage is Kentucky’s most urgent issue,” Smith told the task force. “I’m an affordable housing professional. I am not here to ask you to invest more money in affordable housing. I do not think that is the solution that Kentucky needs. If we had enough supply, not even affordable, Kentucky would have lower average housing costs. We would have higher homeownership rates. We would have more workforce housing. We would have lower eviction rates. We would have fewer homeless Kentuckians and increase household stability.”
The task force Monday was led by co-chair Louisville Republican Rep. Susan Witten, one of 75 members of the Kentucky House who voted to outlaw undesignated homeless encampments under 2024 House Bill 5, also called the Safer Kentucky Act. HB 5 passed by a vote of 75-23 in the House on March 28 and by a vote of 75-23 and passed the Senate 27-9.
Gov. Andy Beshear later vetoed the bill in its entirety, but the House and Senate overwhelmingly voted to cancel (override) the veto.
All members of the NKY Senate delegation and most members of the NKY House delegation voted in support of HB 5. (Voting against the bill were Reps. Steven Doan, R-Erlanger, Rep. Rachel Roberts, D-Newport and Rep. Savannah Maddox, R-Dry Ridge.)
Unsheltered homelessness – what Smith referred to as “visible homelessness” or street homelessness seen in public places like parks or public roadsides – is on the rise statewide, she said. That’s based on what Smith called a federally-required “point-in-time” homeless count taken across the state in one day last January. Sheltered homelessness, or people in shelters with a bed, is also at high levels in Kentucky, although that number has been pretty steady over the past two years.
The Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky, which offers 68 beds for overnight stays, laundry and shower facilities, storage lockers, phone-charging stations and an on-site medical clinic to people experiencing homelessness, has become the focal point for both how the region ought to confront the problem of homelessness and how shelters and similar service agencies should operate. Despite this, a group of residents from Covington’s Westside publicly leveled grievances at the agency, which has become the focal point for both how the region ought to confront the problem of homelessness and how shelters and similar service agencies should operate. Read more here.
Homelessness in NKY: Region grapples with how to care for those who are unhoused
Statewide, Smith said the total number of homeless persons (street homeless and sheltered) from the 2024 point-in-time count was higher than it’s been in years, reaching 5,321.
And homelessness is not just an issue in urban areas in Kentucky. Smith said people in rural areas are seeing more homeless people in their communities than they have since at least 2019. The unsheltered homeless count, she said, “has really gone up, in particular for balance of state, or everywhere but Louisville and Lexington.”
In Frankfort, lawmakers debating homelessness during the 2024 legislative session frequently flagged mental illness and addiction as factors in rising homeless numbers. However, Smith said those factors are peripheral, not structural or core issues behind homelessness.
A lack of housing, or lack of supply, is the biggest problem, she said.
“Contributing causes may be substance use disorder, mental illness, divorce, job loss, etc.. But they don’t always dictate that a person or family ends up homeless. The structural factor is the environment in which a contributing factor is more likely to make you homeless,” she told the task force.
Regarding the total number of people experiencing homelessness statewide last winter, Witten asked how that number fits with the number of people who can’t find housing in Kentucky.
“The homeless number was a little over 5,000 in Kentucky on any given night, and then you tell us that we’re 206,000 units short – help me understand where are those people now?” Witten said.
Smith said some of those people are spending over 50% of their income on housing, some are sharing or “doubled up” in housing units, some are living with family, etc. “There’s a lot of overcrowding. Some of that is by choice,” she said. “The 200,000 isn’t meant to mean we have 200,000 people homeless, it’s people who are not in a housing solution matched to what they want.”
Middle, moderate and low-income people in Kentucky are competing for the same housing units, particularly rental units, because of a supply shortage, Smith said. A gap in low-rent housing complicates the situation for those who may lose out on an apartment and not be able to find or afford another one, Smith explained—including people who may have a housing voucher but can’t find anyone to take it.
As for vouchers, Kentucky lawmakers passed HB 18 last session, which allows landlords to turn away potential tenants who rely on federal housing assistance vouchers, like Section 8, to pay rent.
Without specifically mentioning HB 18, Smith said if a landlord doesn’t accept a housing voucher within so many days (120 days up to 210 days maximum for some vouchers), that voucher must be turned back in, and the person still looking for housing has to go to the bottom of the waiting list, said Smith. “That is so demoralizing,” she told the task force.
Back to the 200,000, Witten said she wants to make sure lawmakers are looking at real numbers.
“I’m sure there are a lot of people who live in a house that would rather live in a different zip code, or have a bigger house. I don’t know if that’s what I would consider a housing crisis. I just don’t want to conflate those numbers,” said Witten.
Senate Majority Caucus Chair Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, who also serves on the task force, said she believes the housing gap goes beyond supply. “I wish it was almost as simplistic as just being a supply issue. But as you know, there’s just so much that goes into that supply,” said Adams.
The next meeting of the Kentucky Housing Task Force is scheduled for July 29. Findings and recommendations of the task force are expected to be submitted to the Legislative Research Commission of the Kentucky General Assembly for potential committee review no later than Dec. 1.