Tony Curtis, executive director of the Metropolitan Housing Coalition in Louisville, said there is a need for 206,000 housing units across the state, projected to jump to 280,000 units in the next five years. He stressed that the Kentucky Housing Task Force realizes the urgency of the issue and expects more recommendations.
"To see where investment needs to occur, where legislative action needs to occur, from a housing supply side, but also from a regulatory side," Curtis outlined.
Most of the recommendations for the 2026 legislative session focused on regulatory changes seeking to lower the cost of housing construction by either encouraging or mandating state and local governments to “eliminate barriers” to building new homes.
According to the task force, the regulatory changes would build on bills signed into law during this year’s legislative session, such as a law preventing local governments from implementing certain restrictions on manufactured housing. Curtis added that both rural and urban areas need housing, noting he expects homelessness to rise if action stagnates.
"Alone in Louisville, we're going to see potentially up to 2000 individuals that could be out on the streets that previously had stable housing," Curtis reported.
Homelessness is rising in the Commonwealth, with the number of unhoused individuals increasing for the fourth consecutive year, reaching nearly 5,800 individuals at the beginning of this year, a significant jump from 2024.
This story was produced with original reporting by Liam Niemeyer for the Kentucky Lantern.
