LMHA finding a way to tackle critical shortage of affordable housing in Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville Metro Housing Authority will start moving residents out of the Dosker Manor public housing complex this week, but the big question has been "where will the people go?"

The first 100 or so residents will be moved into property owned by LMHA. With a shortage of affordable housing options that will take Section 8 vouchers in the city, LMHA said it has a plan to help developers build new affordable housing.

Enzo Intelligence told WDRB News it has been a tough eight years that he has lived at Dosker Manor.

During the 2020 global COVID-19 pandemic, Intelligence and many other residents stopped paying rent. For him to be able to move, he has to make arrangements to pay back hundreds of dollars in unpaid rent.

His rent is $280 a month, which is 30% of his income. To make up his past due rent, it will take another 10% of his income. Intelligence said he would like to get out of public housing and into an apartment.

"I have had a place picked out for like eight years," he said.

For Intelligence, moving into a private development will require a landlord that accepts Section 8 vouchers. Or, he can wait for a new development, financed, in part, by LMHA's project-based vouchers, which essentially pays for an apartment.

"These vouchers are tied to the unit," LMHA Executive Director Elizabeth Strojan said.

The LMHA Board approved close to 1,000 of these vouchers, which should create the same number of affordable apartments.

"It also increases the supply for the enormous number of Louisvillians who need affordable housing," said Strojan.

The waiting list for Section 8 vouchers is closed, and the wait time for those on the list is three to five years.

LMHA had to do something, because there simply isn't any affordable housing for the 600 people currently living at Dosker Manor.

For Intelligence, he is ready for a new place and a new state of mind.

"When you move to a respectable, middle-class place, it changes your mindset," he said.

LMHA said they will have a list of places that are accepting the project-based vouchers sometime this week.

Officials said some of these developments will be new, others are existing or are developments that will need renovation. Getting residents out of Dosker Manor will take time, and tearing the complex down will require approval from the federal government.

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