LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Louisville Eviction Working Group is calling on the Louisville Metro Council to allocate a minimum of $16 million toward permanent and comprehensive eviction prevention services for the 2024 city budget.

What You Need To Know

  •  The Louisville Eviction Working Group is calling on the Louisville Metro Council to allocate a minimum $16 million toward eviction prevention in the city budget

  •  Unsheltered Louisvillians has increased by 139% in 2023

  • Louisville’s eviction rate was reduced by nearly 50% between 2019 and 2021

The group formed during the COVID-19 pandemic to address, reduce and prevent evictions. Their goal is to help people like Angela Masden.

Masden is a mother and advocate for the community and families. After losing her job in October, Masden was in a situation where she was having a hard time paying her bills.

“I have been trying to figure out how to pay rent, utilities, car and anything else that I could. I have been trying to be in programs and it has been very difficult,” Masden said.

Masden reached out to churches and organizations who were not able to provide assistance because she had yet to be evicted.

“I feel like these barriers that are happening are too much for people. If there are barriers, why do I need to apply? I give up. And so that’s what happens and then trauma happens and then I’m sitting out here homeless,” she shared.

The Coalition for the Homeless, another group working to prevent homelessness in Louisville, said before the pandemic, eviction rates in Louisville were twice as high as the national average. Black Kentuckians were two and a half times more likely to end up in eviction court compared to white residents.

George Eklund, with the Coalition for the Homeless, works directly with people facing eviction.

“There was never a time when I saw somebody who was willfully not paying their rent. These are hardworking Louisvillians that are trying to make a home for themselves,” Eklund said.

The Black Leadership Action Coalition of Kentucky says Louisville’s eviction rate was reduced by nearly 50% between 2019 and 2021.

“What I hope to see in this budget is that we can get more money for rental assistance because we’ve learned so much, we’ve worked so hard, we’ve come so far to go back, accepting that eviction is the cost of doing business,” Eklund said.

The group of advocates hopes the funds will make it easier for those facing eviction to seek support.

Last month, the Coalition for the Homeless announced the number of unsheltered Louisvillians has increased by 139%.

In June, Metro Council will discuss the final changes in the city budget for an approval.

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