Attention Investors:
GA 26 and Housing Legislation
With a shortage of over 40,000 housing units in Louisville alone, housing has become a top issue for the Kentucky legislature this session. Legislators dedicated time in the interim to discuss this pressing issue impacting the Commonwealth through the Kentucky Housing Taskforce. Both chairs of the taskforce have since filed legislation to address these concerns, which includes many long-term business community priorities to speed up and incentivize housing development.
Wednesday, Rep. Susan Witten filed two bills that address zoning at the local level. First, House Bill 617 aims to streamline and simplify land development, increase density, and reduce parking mandates. Additionally, House Bill 618 loosens requirements on two, three, and four family homes, ensuring that their requirements are no more strenuous than that of a single-family home in the same zone. This legislation also streamlines application timelines and processes to remove administrative burden that might inhibit development.
Senate Bill 9, filed by Sen. Robby Mills allows Kentucky cities and counties to create housing districts to help finance and incentivize new residential development. It also creates Residential Infrastructure Development Districts, which let local governments finance major infrastructure for large residential projects and creates Housing Development Districts with a Housing Incentive Payment Program. In these districts, local governments (or other taxing authorities) can agree to refund a negotiated percentage of newly generated property taxes back to developers for a set period.
A similar bill was filed in the House, House Bill 536, by Rep. Josh Bray. The main difference between the two bills is that SB 9 creates two separate tools to support housing development, while HB 536 only includes one. HB 536 removes the infrastructure financing piece entirely and focuses only on the housing incentive payment program.
GLI has worked with the sponsors of these critical pieces of legislation to ensure that they will be efficient approaches to addressing housing shortages in Greater Louisville and across the Commonwealth. We look forward to supporting these bills through their passage.
For a full list of housing bills that GLI is tracking see our housing legislation report. (this is a static link and will automatically update with any changes)