NEWPORT, Ky. — For Karen Arthur and her aunt, Dolores Gosney, finding affordable housing has turned their life around for the better.
The pair was granted a one-bedroom apartment at the Saratoga Place Apartments in Newport, a community designed for seniors and families living on fixed income.
After losing her mobile home and having to live with family members just a few years ago, Arthur has a place to call her own.
“I wanted my own place, and this was more affordable so that I could do that,” Arthur said.
The two now have dinner together a few times a week.
“I love it here because it feels like home to me,” Gosney said.
Wonda Winkler, president and CEO of the Brighton Center, which has developed various programs addressing housing affordability, said its efforts are a part of a larger effort to combat the housing shortage.
“Stability is a huge issue that impacts people's ability to go to school or go to work or to be able to achieve their hopes and dreams,” Winkler said. “We focused on the program side of creating programs that provide housing stability.”
Initiatives such as the Brighton Center are part of a broader plan, "Home for All: Northern Kentucky Housing Strategies." Leaders from the Northern Kentucky Area Development District, Brighton Center and Brighton Properties worked to create the plan over the past year.
The plan showcases 50 solutions to address the region's housing shortage, including proactive code enforcement, middle housing strategies, creative zoning approaches, landlord property inventories and support of small developers.
Brent Cooper, president and CEO of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, stressed the housing shortage is both a community and economic issue.
“Business owners are seeing that their employees are dealing with this housing crisis, and it is a supply-and-demand issue," Cooper said. "Just giving people raises doesn't actually solve the problem because there isn't enough stock in the housing. This is why businesses are saying loud and clear, 'We have to build more.'"
The report revealed 6,000 housing units need to be built within the next five years to meet growing demand.
Residents such as Arthur and Gosney said they’re grateful for the chance to be comfortable.