LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky is short thousands of homes and apartments, a problem that's projected to get worse.

The findings of Kentucky's Housing Supply Gap Analysis aren't positive. The study, commissioned by the Kentucky Housing Corporation, reports the state's housing shortage affects rural and urban Kentuckians alike.

Curtis Stauffer with the Kentucky Housing Corporation has been working in affordable housing for the better part of 20 years. He said the supply gap has only gotten worse over time.

“We need to build higher; we need to build wider," he said. "We need to build everywhere. And you might think that’s all concentrated in our urban areas, but that is not the case. There is a huge need for more housing, both rental and homeownership, throughout the entire commonwealth." 

According to the Housing Supply Gap Analysis, Kentucky is short nearly 207,000 rental units and homes. The shortage balloons 287,000 in the report’s five-year projection.

“Everything we can do to support the new construction of units, be it homeownership units or rental units by increasing funding availability, changes in land-use reform and other methodology to increase our capacity to put more units on the ground are what we have to do to meet this great need,” Stauffer said.

Catching up or closing the gap is not easy. Stauffer pointed to a shortage of developers, skyrocketing building costs and fewer trade workers, making it that much more difficult to build new homes, let alone afford one.

At the corner of South Gray and Clay streets in Louisville is The Prestonian, a 343-unit mixed-income housing project for families earning up to 80% of the area median income. It’s expected to open next year. Stauffer said it’ll take a lot more developments like this if city and state leaders want to close the gap on affordable housing.

“This is a great example of what we need to do more of across the state, get more units going up to meet the needs of our residents,” Stauffer said.