Covington has OK’d the sale of city-owned land located at 609 Patton Street for the eventual construction of roughly 60 units of affordable housing for seniors.
Although the move, approved by the Covington Board of Commissioners Tuesday evening, does not guarantee the eventual construction of such a complex, it signifies the first steps in getting a project off the ground.
Kenton County property records indicate the property consists of several parcels of land, which at one point served as a mobile home park, but is currently vacant. Prior to being a mobile home park, according to city staff, it was a dumping ground.
The land is located in the Austinburg neighborhood and the units would be available to seniors with incomes between 30% and 80% of the median area income.
Our region, according to a housing strategies report released in 2025, lacks sufficient housing for young adults forming their first household; for essential workers like nurses, teachers and first responders; and for older adults. A teacher with a median annual income of $43,740, for example, can afford only 26% of the rental and 16% of the for-sale housing in the region, according to the report. For a restaurant server, only 1% of the region’s rental housing is affordable.
An older person relying on Social Security can also afford only 1% of rental housing in the region, according to the report.
The report, called Home for All: Northern Kentucky Housing Strategies, came to be thanks to more than 90 leaders and experts from across NKY who spent hours studying the region and its urgent housing challenge. Their goal was to close the housing gap across income levels and provide a place for everyone.
Click here to learn more about the shortage and how NKY leaders and community members are stepping in to find solutions.
Understanding NKY’s housing shortage
The agreement, which passed as part of Tuesday night’s consent agenda, will allow the purchase of the property for $1, according to city documents, by a joint legal entity consisting of three organizations.
The first is Neighborhood Investment Partners, or NIP, an independent nonprofit affiliated with the city and the Housing Authority of Covington. Its directors are appointed by the mayor. The other two are Kingsley & Co., a Cincinnati-based, minority-owned developer and Beacon, an affordable housing developer out of Louisville.
Additionally, the agreement would allow NIP to apply for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits to help bankroll the construction of the complex. Applications and compliance for such tax credits are onerous, but organizations like NIP have specialists on staff familiar with the process of obtaining such tax credits. If the credits are awarded, the construction could begin next summer.
Mayor Ron Washington laid out the income levels the complex would target.
For single people, Washington said, “your income would be between $17,000 and $47,000 a year, or $8.48 an hour to $22.62 an hour. If it’s a two-person income residence, your income would need to be $21,450 to $57,200 [a year], or $10.31 an hour to $27.50 an hour. And if you’re a three-person residents or family, $25,650 to $68,400.”