After destructive floods displaced thousands of Kentucky families, developers are building climate-resilient homes away from flood-prone areas.
In the wake of a series of devastating floods, a coalition of Kentucky nonprofits and local and state governments are building “higher ground” communities in locations away from floodplains, with homes designed to withstand extreme weather.
As Liam Niemeyer explains in an article for the Kentucky Lantern, housing providers and advocates rallied after major flooding in 2022, calling on the state legislature to allocate immediate funding for housing and target more resources toward meeting the state’s housing needs. Now, hundreds of “higher ground” homes are being built, funded in part by federal relocation funds and disaster relief.
These projects could be in jeopardy if the proposed federal budget, which would cut roughly 44 percent from Kentucky’s federal housing assistance, goes through. “Building out the infrastructure to serve these homes and securing and developing the land has taken years, nonprofit housing builders told the Lantern.” The loss of federal funds could have a significant chilling effect on new housing development.
Read the full story: Eastern Kentucky’s ‘higher ground’ homes are being built. The builders see the need for much more.
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