LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Mayor Craig Greenberg, D-Louisville, says the city needs to build more homes with the space it already has.
Greenberg says it’s been a top priority since before he took office to create more affordable housing units across the city. He revealed his strategy for creating and preserving 15,000 homes and apartments by 2027.
More building of new properties and rehabbing vacant homes is a big part of the plan.
“In addition to building new homes we need to do a better job of preserving existing affordable units by continuing to support programs like our popular home repair program and will implement new measures as well,” Greenberg said.
Standing outside a building development for low-income senior residents, Greenberg says his plan will offer incentives including lien forgiveness if property owners renovate vacant and abandoned homes and rent the units to qualifying low-income residents.
Greenberg also says the city needs to build more within the space it already has, increasing the city’s density by building up and closer together — something requiring changes to certain building regulations. “In some cases it could be building vertically, in other cases it could be reducing the required space of land for single family home developments and permit that on smaller acreage as well,” the mayor explained.
Louisville continues to struggle with a homelessness crisis, which is why members of Louisville’s Coalition for the Homeless were in attendance.
“I know that some portion of those units are for those that are earning 30% AMI or below — the devil is going to be in the details. The Coalition for the Homeless is going to advocate for those as many units as possible to meet those that are on the precipice homelessness or those that are currently in shelter trying to get back into housing,” George Eklund, director of education and advocacy with the Coalition for the Homeless, told Spectrum News 1.
On the topic of affordability, the mayor says no Louisvillian should be paying over 30% of their income on rent or mortgages. In order to do that, Eklund says the city needs more home inventory.
The mayor’s plan also supports building more modular homes in order to create more units faster.