As the state works to help battered communities rebuild after record tornadoes upended life in Western Kentucky in 2021, it’s meant constructing not just new homes, but new neighborhoods and key city buildings. Yet "there was always a piece that FEMA did not — and would not — cover and it concerned al of us," Gov. Beshear said.
And that was rentals.
Cue Monday’s announcement of 953 new affordable housing units across four counties — Christian, Graves, Hopkins, and Warren — funded through the Department of Local Government and the Kentucky Housing Corporation at $223 million.
While the Bowling Green area will receive the lion’s share, it’s smaller communities where leaders say it can make the biggest difference.
"This tornado struck in the heart of our community, to the heart of our people who were the most vulnerable," Mayfield Mayor Kathy O’ said. "It was those people who lived in these sub-par rental homes that are now still struggling."
Priority will be given to storm survivors for the first four months the units are on the market. They, like all new construction after the severe weather in Eastern and Western Kentucky, are being built to withstand more extreme weather events.
