'My Louisville Home' vision plans to add 15,000 units of affordable housing by 2027

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville is working to create more housing for more people that's also more affordable. Tuesday morning, Mayor Craig Greenberg released a vision for how to achieve that goal.

"Safe, affordable, quality housing is a basic human need. It's the foundation of everything else in life. And it's a need that's going unmet or being inadequately met for far too many people in Louisville," Greenberg said.

While standing in front of a 70-unit senior-living affordable housing complex under construction in Fern Creek, Greenberg announced the "My Louisville Home" plan. It's a housing strategy to create and preserve 15,000 units of affordable housing in Louisville by 2027.

"I know when some folks hear the term 'affordable housing,' they think that just means low income housing. And that is a serious part of the issue we've been talking about. But the need is much broader than that," said Greenberg. "When I talk about affordable housing, I mean that no one should have to pay more than 30% of their income on housing expenses each month."

The My Louisville Home plan, detailed in more than 30 pages on the city's website says, "... more than 40,000 Louisville households spend more than 50% of their income on rent and homeownership costs. As a result, many people do not have enough income remaining to adequately pay for food, healthcare or other basic needs, and some households have chosen to move farther away from employment centers to find more affordable housing options."

Greenberg said this plan uses multiple strategies to remove barriers to housing development and encourage partnerships to create more affordable homes.

To read the detailed, full draft plan, click here.

To leave a comment for the city about the plan, click here.

According to the city, community members can share their thoughts though the online portal until early November. In December, a final version of the plan will be released.

The My Louisville Home plan has five key goals:

Providing incentives to create and preserve affordable housing.
Create long-term affordable homeownership opportunities
Preserve existing affordable housing units
Generate new revenue for affordable housing development
Assist low and moderate income households in being able to buy homes

The city estimates as many as 50,000 households lack affordable housing, which is a direct result of income.

"The median home price in Louisville has risen 48% since 2016 while the median income has only risen 29%," said Greenberg.

According to the plan, "... the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in our community is approximately $1,189 per month, which is affordable to households earning at or above $47,000 annually."

It also says the current median home price in Louisville is $242,900.

The Louisville Affordable Housing Trust Fund (LAHTF) conducted a study of existing conditions in a 2019 report that looked at policies, programs, funding and financing. The city hopes to implement changes based on action items identified in the report.

Greenberg said this is a plan for all types of housing, in all zip codes of the city.

"Safe, affordable, quality housing is the foundation for every family and must be present in all neighborhoods. Not just other people's neighborhoods," he said.

He said the city needs more housing options in general.

" ... just as we need more housing for teachers, police officers, factory workers, nurses, and more. That's why we need more housing, period."

Education Advocacy Director for Louisville's Coalition for the Homeless, George Eklund, said he hopes this plan can also help the homelessness crisis facing the city.

"There's been a void and I feel like this plan is filling that void right now," he said.

Eklund said when given a choice, those on the streets would much prefer housing over a shelter.

"Nobody wants to live on the streets for long periods of time. It's not a sustainable place to be for long periods," he added.

The My Louisville Housing plan also addresses vacant lots, with goals to transform those properties into housing and breaks down strategies and initiatives. It suggests metro government fund the Louisville Affordable Housing Trust Fund "with a minimum of $20 million annually" through the city's budget or another source.

Greenberg said his hope is that this 15,000 unit plan would just be the beginning, noting the city needs thousands of additional units.

"This is the biggest and boldest affordable housing plan that our city has ever undertaken and we will accomplish this goal. And then as soon as we accomplish this goal, we will strive to do it again, and again, and again," he said.

According to the report, the cost to develop 31,412 new units of housing for a project like this would be more than $5 billion. But it goes on to say the cost of not addressing this is "unimaginable" when it comes to safety and people's economic future.

Greenberg said since taking office in January, his administration has invested more than $37 million in affordable housing.

"Some of the reforms in My Louisville Home are ones we can implement through metro government," he said.

However, Greenberg said the "most meaningful and urgent" housing reforms will require the approval of metro council.

"We're already in conversations and I will continue to work with members of metro council to achieve our goal of creating and preserving 15,000 affordable housing units all across our city," Greenberg said.

Again, to read the plan, click here.

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