Covington is set to approve the development of five more homes on Pleasant Street in the city’s Eastside neighborhood next week.
This will be the second phase of the city’s attempt to increase housing stock for low-income buyers on the street. The installations of the first phase of the project began earlier this year and will be complete soon, according to Covington’s Assistant Neighborhood Services Director Walt Mace, who presented information on the five new houses to the Covington Board of Commissioners this week.
The new phase of the project will take place on the following vacant addresses: 316-318 Pleasant St., 326 Pleasant St., 328 Pleasant St. and 338 Pleasant St. The development of the lots will be led by Neighborhood Investment Partners, the city’s nonprofit housing subsidiary.
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
Two of the units will be three-bedroom detached homes, one will be a two-bedroom detached home and the final unit will be a duplex with three bedrooms per unit. The homes will be marketed to local buyers who meet HUD’s low-income criteria as part of the city’s ongoing efforts to address affordable housing shortages.
Depending on their situations, buyers may also be eligible for a low-interest, forgivable loan from the Northern Kentucky HOME Consortium to help cover down payment and closing costs. You can learn about that program here.
The next phase of the project, according to a city press release, will develop “the remaining vacant lots on the southern side of the block” and “is expected to begin this fall, with construction anticipated to start in spring 2027.” Overall, the city hopes to develop 15 new homes throughout the neighborhood.
Check out some designs of the homes below.