KENTUCKY — On this week’s “In Focus Kentucky” program, we’re taking a look at Kentucky’s housing shortage.

During this segment, Kentucky Housing Corporation’s Deputy Executive Director of Housing Programs Wendy Smith joins the program to discuss KHC’s ongoing comprehensive statewide housing supply gap analysis to determine each county and Area Development District’s current housing needs and the projected housing shortages in five years. KHC hired Bowen National Research, a national real estate analysis firm, to conduct the study and to provide detailed data that will help identify the shortages and guidance for local leaders and stakeholders as they begin discussing ways to address the gaps.

According to Phase 1 of the study that was released in May 2024, it was revealed that Kentucky currently needs about 206,000 housing units, which includes rentals and homes for sale. The initial data shows without a push to build or repair more housing, that number is projected to increase by more than 80,000 by 2029 to 287,000+ housing units, driven significantly by the need for lower-income rentals and higher-income homes for sale.

You can watch the full In Focus Kentucky segment in the player above.