'Never seen it this bad' | NKY seeks solutions to lack of affordable housing

“It is really hard to find anything affordable right now.”

Executive Director at Housing Opportunities of Northern Kentucky (HONK) David Hastings said the current housing market is rough, especially when it comes to affordable housing.

“I’ve never seen it this bad, he said. "The need is greater than I’ve ever seen it. We see so many desperate folks just needing an affordable place and they’re not finding anything.”

He said rents and home sales are going up, but people’s pay isn’t keeping up.

Tuesday morning, Northern Kentucky leaders plan to assess the region’s current housing market and search for ways to create more affordable housing during their Eggs N’ Issues meeting at 7:30 a.m.

They’ll review a study conducted by the Northern Kentucky Area Development District (NKADD) and some of the strategies the report recommended to develop more housing.

“This study really looks at the gambit of the housing stock in the region from the highest level to the lowest to say ‘what do we have’,” Executive Director of NKADD, Tara Johnson-Noem said.

Johnson-Noem said they did the study to see what some barriers are that are keeping employers from finding workers. She said they determined the study needed to look at housing. The report determined that 6,650 housing units need to be developed in the region which includes; homes, apartments, rentals and condos.

“Over the last five years or so, we’ve seen a lot of construction in a three or four-bedroom unit where the study showed that one and two-bedroom units are needed also. It’s not an either-or, it’s an and,” Johnson-Noem said.

She said this housing needs to be income-aligned. Johnson-Noem said 67% of people living in NKY earn $60,000 or less.

“The study did find that a little over 4,000 of the units created needed to be for individuals that are earning about $15-$25 per hour,” she said.

In Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties the report shows that job creation is out-pacing workforce housing.

“These are individuals that we know, they're our colleagues that we’re working with every day. They’re us," she said. "These are our teachers, our first responders, our healthcare professionals. We’re really talking about price points that meet the demand of our workforce.”

Johnson-Noem said they need a wider variety of housing stock and rentals. The report outlines some solutions to achieve these goals, which include dedicating publicly owned land to affordable housing and using low-income housing tax credits.

“We know that some of those may work in Northern Kentucky, but we have our own situations here,” Johnson-Noem said.

She said it’s important to find a solution so NKY can attract and retain talent.

Hastings said it’s crucial for NKY to develop more affordable housing. He said HONK rehabs and builds homes. He said the current market is making this a little more difficult, so they are looking at foreclosure homes which tend to be riskier.

One way they’re helping people is through their lease-to-own program.

“They can live in the house, get used to the expenses of the house, the upkeep of a house before they buy it,” Hastings said.

He said they helped 10 families become homeowners last year. Through their homeownership program , he said they help singles and families become homeowners in about 18 months on average.

Hastings said many people don’t realize they qualify to receive their help. For example, they can help a family of 4 making under $83,850. They can help someone who is single making under $58,700.

He said the current housing market is challenging and HONK is always looking for volunteers to help people on their path to homeownership.