Report details how Louisville Metro affordable housing problems are affected by climate change

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - The yearly report from the Metropolitan Housing Coalition (MHC) shows that the city not only needs to build more affordable homes, it needs to make them more resilient.

“The State of Housing in a Changing Climate” makes a case for building affordable housing that can stand up to more severe weather and keep energy costs down.

MHC Executive Director Tony Curtis said the cost can be daunting.

“Millions, billions of dollars,” he said. “People run away from and say we can’t tackle this, but it does take that bold vision, but it takes a bold investment of money and a community engagement as well to do that.”

According to the report, 41.1% of renters in the Louisville Metro already spend more than 30% of their income on rent. That is the threshold of what is considered affordable housing.

The city has a 55,000-unit shortage of affordable housing. It is a challenge magnified as the report also examines local climate getting hotter and wetter. It suggests the city’s growing number of aging houses may need expensive retrofitting to make them stronger, energy-efficient and affordable.

“Learn to think about this as a complicated issue, and that there isn’t a silver bullet.” Lauren Heberle, Director of the UofL Center for Environmental Policy and Management, said. “And that this is going to be an ongoing problem that we have to engage in.”

Curtis said the report is being distributed to get more people talking, especially people who need affordable housing.

“We need people who need housing,” Curtis said. “Whether that’s an apartment, a town home or a pocket neighborhood or a single-family home. We have to make that happen and those voices need to be heard and we cannot reject on a district-by-district level.”

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