More than 6,600 housing units are needed in the next five years in order to support economic development in Northern Kentucky, according to a recent study.
Community members came together Thursday night to talk about how the region can come up with to create that much housing — at a price the people who live here can actually afford.
LINK nky’s Community Conversation event about the local housing shortage included local experts and community members who pitched ideas, talked about barriers, and focused on the solutions for what all panelists agreed is a solvable problem.
It’s just going to take a lot of things working in conjunction to get us there.
Click here to read more of our reporting about the region’s housing shortage
Panelists were Eric Jackson, a history professor at Northern Kentucky University; Anthony Bradford, a Covington-based developer and founder of A.M. Titan; Margery Spinney, co-founder of Renting Partnerships; and Maggie Whitfield, an elementary school teacher from Newport.
Throughout the forum, affordability emerged as a central theme. Spinney said that there is an apparent shortage of housing that’s truly affordable. According to nerdwallet.com, conventional wisdom suggests spending about 30% of your gross income on housing.
Click here to watch the full discussion
However, this advice isn’t always feasible. Spinney noted that there are families who spend close to 50% of their monthly income on housing, diverting money away from other vital areas of spending, such as healthcare and childcare.
“Then people are paying more than 30 or 50% of their income for rent or for housing, they aren’t able to afford things for their kids,” Spinney said. “They aren’t able to afford to pay for insurance. If they get sick, they are devastated, they may not be able to pay the rent.”
Spinney took issue with the description of the region’s problem as a housing shortage. Instead, she said the issue was largely structural, with developers’ profit motives warping the incentive structure for building income-aligned housing.
“In Cincinnati, there’s tons of banking accounts. It’s being held by investors for redevelopment,” she said. “They can’t redevelop it at those prices unless they can get a high amount of money for the rent, which people can’t afford.”
From Jackson’s perspective, the solution isn’t only to build more housing, but to understand the socioeconomic needs of each demographic group. That way, stakeholders can better address the disparities faced by each group.
“It’s always different variables, so it’s not one size fits all,” he said. “So until you dig into the weeds to figure out and engage the disparities in different groups of people from the beginning of what their needs are, from the beginning of this discussion–you’re never going to be able to get in, because most times, they’re not at the beginning of the discussion.
“They’re not talked to, they’re talked at.”
Bradford said developers face a complex set of circumstances, whether that’s the cost of labor, the rising cost of materials, or being able to get a return on investment.
“I think the challenge from the affordability perspective is the cost to build that, right? I think it’s a great gesture today, like we need 6,000 homes, but we want them at this price point, and that’s a whole other layer of complexity,” Bradford said.
“Not In My Backyard,” or NIMBYism, was another topic of discussion. This term refers to organized community resistance to specific developments or projects in their neighborhoods. Such opposition can hinder efforts to build much-needed housing.
Bradford said that while NIMBYism can certainly be a hindrance, it’s not the only roadblock to building more housing.
“I think it does occur sometimes,” he said. “I don’t think it’s the only hurdle, but it does occur. I would say, in my experience, most folks, most people know change is tough to accept.”
To address the issue, local leaders and nonprofit organizations are employing a combination of solutions. For example, Bradford’s A.M. Titan utilizes adaptive reuse, redeveloping dilapidated and blighted housing by transforming vacant properties into viable rental and residential spaces.
This practice adds to the overall housing supply and is especially prevalent in Northern Kentucky’s river cities, including Ludlow, Covington, Newport, Bellevue, and Dayton.
Spinney’s organization, Renting Partnerships, utilizes a housing model focused on stable housing communities and long-term resident commitment. This is achieved through a community management model that encourages participatory maintenance and a savings credit system, allowing long-term renters to accumulate financial equity.
Other suggested solutions centered on financial strategies, such as low-income housing tax credits and offering alternative financing models. In addition, land use strategies such as zoning improvements, increased housing density, and enhanced walkability were touted as steps in the right direction.
However, each of the panelists emphasized that no single solution exists. Rather, a multi-faceted, collaborative approach is necessary.
“It’s ordinary people doing extraordinary things all the time because they choose to,” Jackson said.
