Kentucky's Housing Policy Advisory Committee met in Frankfort on Tuesday and discussed some of the bills passed in the 2026 legislative session to address housing.
The main topics included legislative updates, the weatherization program and the housing supply accelerator, a position created to help communities address the state’s shortfall of housing.
Adrienne Bush, executive director of the Housing and Homeless Coalition of Kentucky, presented the legislative updates to the committee members. She said from the perspective of HHCK, the organization is looking for legislation that helps increase the affordable housing supply, increase housing access and create renter protections.
Bush highlighted House Bill 333, which streamlines planning and zoning for religious developers trying to build affordable housing on property that they owned before 2026. It was passed and signed by Gov. Andy Beshear.
There were also bills that HHCK was interested in that did not pass including one that would expunge dismissed evictions.
“Over the last five years, over half the evictions filed in Kentucky have been dismissed, that is, they've not gone to judgment,” Bush said. “The folks have made good, either with the rent or with other issues, prior to an actual legal judgment, and this bill would have allowed those dismissals to fall off the record.”
That bill, HB 338, did not pass both chambers. Other bills that HHCK were interested in but did not pass include increasing the Affordable Housing Trust Fund fees, prohibiting utility disconnections during extreme temperatures and cleaning up regulator changes from the past few years.
There was also Senate Bill 9, known as the omnibus housing bill, included recommendations from the legislative Housing Task Force and ultimately did not pass after much discussion in both chambers.
Bush said the state appropriated $5 million to the Affordable Housing Trust fund, $10 million to a loan fund for residential infrastructure, $100 million for state grant matching programs and $5 million to establish a grant program for certain nonprofits headquartered in Kentucky.
Other tax credits and funds were also passed by both chambers.
“I think we are leaving this session in a better place than we were going into it in terms of priorities that have advanced and priorities that are teed up for advancing in the 2027 session,” Bush said.
Keli Reynolds, an assistant director for the Kentucky Housing Corporation, presented on the Weatherization Assistance Program.
Some of the funding for this program comes from LIHEAP, or Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps offset heating and cooling costs for low income homes. Other funding comes from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Reynolds said not all the relevant funding information is available yet, so they’re having to plan with what they know for now.
“I'm doing as much back work as I can on the budget to just get ready, so when I get the numbers, I can maybe plug them in a little easier,” Reynolds said.
Some of the funding has changed at the federal level for the weatherization program. Reynolds said she’s not worried about it currently and has been having meetings in Washington.
“I’m not doing anything but just going and telling Kentucky’s story,” Reynolds said. “This is what weatherization looks like in Kentucky. This was what it looks like in your district. This is how many elderly we're serving. This is how many electric houses we have, how many gas houses we have.”
Reynolds also shared the story of how weatherization had dropped a man’s utility bills by 40% and 50% after a series of improvements. That can make a big difference at a time of rising utility rates.
Heather Hairgrove is the Housing Supply Accelerator with KHC. Her position was established after the group's 2024 Housing Supply Gap Analysis showed the state needed more than 200,000 housing units. She goes to counties to help them understand their housing needs and how to get started bringing housing to their community.
“I tell people to try to gather their local officials, their nonprofits, their developers, anybody that's interested in trying to increase housing within the community, just to try to help get more of a coalition there,” Hairgrove said.
She does webinars and presents other resources to people interested in increasing the housing supply. Hairgrove said she educates communities on how to be more “developer friendly” and explores new non-government programs that might be helpful.
The next Housing Policy Advisory Committee meeting will be in July.
