HUD Participates in Statewide Kick-Off Effort to Preserve Kentucky's Affordable Housing

Kentucky Housing Corporation's (KHC) Preservation Summit

Across Kentucky, nearly 50,000 apartments for low- and moderate-income households built by the private sector using federal, state, and local resources are considered at-risk. Many were built 20-30 years ago, and the restrictions keeping rents affordable have or will soon expire. Other older properties need repairs or renovation to keep them marketable.

Kentucky Housing Corporation (KHC) hosted a Preservation Summit on October 28, 2014, which brought together over 100 housing industry professionals to collaborate on ways to preserve at-risk affordable apartments across the state. Participants included housing developers, property managers, bankers, nonprofits, Louisville Metro Government, representatives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), USDA Rural Development, and other funders.

Preservation of affordable units has come into the national spotlight as other states are facing the same crisis.

"Every at-risk apartment could result in an at-risk family," said J. Kathryn Peters, executive director of KHC. "Any apartment complex lost to disrepair or foreclosure will be a detriment to its community."

"Preservation is complicated," said Rob Ellis, deputy executive director for Housing Production and Programs at KHC. "These projects can have multiple sets of regulations and restrictions to navigate, complex ownership structures, and a need for increasingly scarce federal funding."

"It is only by our partners working together that we can hope to maintain the quality housing available to Kentuckians at all income levels," said Andrew Hawes, managing director of Multifamily Programs at KHC.

Data about the current state of rental housing in Kentucky, including the presentation from today's summit, is available on KHC's website (www.kyhousing.org/), under Development, Multifamily, Preserve Housing (www.kyhousing.org/Development/Multifamily/Pages/Preserve-Housing.aspx).

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