Cuts to the U.S. Office of Housing and Urban Development could affect housing nonprofits working to build high-ground communities in eastern Kentucky.
The New York Times reported last week the Trump administration is looking to cut 84% of HUD’s workforce at its Office of Community Planning and Development, which is involved with disaster recovery. That could have an effect on victims of floods from 2022 and earlier this month.
Scot McReynolds is the director of Housing Development Alliance, a nonprofit helping build high-ground communities. He says those staffing cuts could significantly slow construction down.
“Whenever there's a staffing shortage, things just move slower. There's just not as many people to process applications and payments and all of that.”
McReynolds says that could delay efforts to fix Kentucky’s housing shortage elsewhere.
“We have this odd situation where there is a national housing shortage, there's a national housing affordability crisis, and it's at this time that the programs that can help produce housing to change that, are actually getting cut.”
McReynolds says cuts could affect how long it takes for the nonprofit to get needed federal grant money. Disaster recovery grants from HUD are the main source of money that funds eastern Kentucky’s planned high ground communities.
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