The people have spoken: The Louisville homelessness crisis is out of control, and many voters think it’s time the local government adopted a new approach to stop it.
A recent poll found that only 14% of Kentucky voters think the state and local governments are doing a good job managing homelessness in Kentucky, a problem which has been on the rise in recent years. The Coalition for the Homeless found a 41% increase in Louisville homelessness, from 7,572 in 2018 to 10,640 in 2021. While government assistance programs like ERAP may be effective in the short term, they remain underfunded, and as rental assistance wanes, Louisville eviction rates continue to increase. Instead of offering handouts to a few in the short term, state and local officials ought to prioritize long-term reforms that make housing more affordable for everyone in Kentucky.
Kentucky should kick parking mandates to the curb
Low-cost housing is currently difficult to build in the private sector because of building regulations which either add a minimum cost to construction or prevent it entirely. Regulations like parking mandates can add upwards of $27,900 per space to the cost of a project not including cost of land—a serious deterrent for potential developers. At that rate, it’s cheaper to put up a parking lot and invite the ever growing homeless populations to set up a tent village.