Everyday I worry about our city. As a Louisville Metro Council woman representing Shively, I see too many of my constituents — renters and homeowners — a paycheck away from homelessness. As the Director of VOCAL-KY , I see Louisvillians living on our streets in desperate need of housing and services. But instead of compassion and effective policies to actually fix these problems, I see too many politicians and stakeholders turning to ticketing and arresting people in poverty.
No piece of legislation has made me more afraid of turning our backs on Kentuckians than House Bill 5. As politicians will do, they named this dangerous, discriminatory, ineffective and costly bill, the “Safer Kentucky” Act — but that couldn’t be a more gross misrepresentation. This recently enacted law wastes taxpayer dollars, does nothing to fix the problems, and is guaranteed to make them worse. We can’t afford any of it.
Louisvillians are slipping through the cracks
My very humble beginnings in Louisville give me a unique point of view on the consequences coming to our city because of HB 5. I came to our beautiful city as a single mom of three and seven months pregnant with my fourth child in 2002. My plan was to stay in the Extended Stay Hotel on Breckenridge Lane with my girls until I found housing. I was looking for an opportunity to build stability with my family, but we needed housing first. I had chosen the hotel because it had a kitchenette in the room we rented and that helped save money for food. But after just four and a half weeks our room rate increase threw my plans off.