The director of the Homeless and Housing Coalition of Kentucky sees significant benefit in additional housing vouchers coming to the Commonwealth.
Adrienne Bush anticipates federal money contained in this portion of the American Rescue Plan Act to start arriving in Kentucky over the next few weeks. “Appears that HUD is granting 582 additional vouchers to Kentucky, which doesn’t, I mean is like, oh well that’s a handful. But, that’s a significant number, especially if you think of vouchers as serving the entire household,” said Bush.
Bush said that might be a family of four and not just an individual.
She noted gains can be accomplished at a larger scale with a systems-level approach and not only with individual projects. According to Bush, increasing the housing stock is another current challenge.
The Homeless and Housing Coalition executive said it’s difficult to assess homeless numbers right now. Final stats are not out yet from the point-in-time count last January. Bush said it’s “anybody’s guess” what they might show. The housing advocate noted homelessness had begun to decline starting in about 2013 through 2019, but she added a crisis period came even before the coronavirus pandemic.
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