Gov. Andy Beshear on Friday joined local leaders to help raise the walls on one of five new homes being built by the Housing Development Alliance at the Skyview high-ground neighborhood in Hazard. While at Skyview, the Governor announced more than $8 million in funding for Perry County.
Gov. Beshear also traveled to Letcher County to visit the future Grand View high-ground neighborhood and announced $28.7 million to help build infrastructure at Grand View and 20 more homes for flood survivors around the county. The Governor said First Lady Britainy Beshear is donating tulip bulbs from the Capitol to be planted at both high-ground sites.
“Today, we raised the walls on a New Kentucky Home for one of our families,” said Gov. Beshear. “We announced funds to bring more housing and more opportunities to two counties that were hit hard by the worst flooding of our lifetimes. Just like I’ve said from day one, we will be with Eastern Kentucky until we rebuild every home and every life.”
Gov. Beshear announced the following projects for Perry County:
• $1.6 million in Disaster Recovery funds to Frontier Housing to build eight homes at the Skyview neighborhood;
• $1.6 million in Disaster Recovery funds to Family Scholar House to build eight homes at the Skyview neighborhood (in addition to the 8 listed above);
• $4.2 million from the Kentucky Product Development Initiative to build a secondary water treatment plant at the Coal Fields Industrial Park;
• $145,631 from the G.R.A.N.T. Program to the Perry County Fiscal Court to build a new community park in Viper;
• $460,000 in state budget funds to benefit the Challenger Learning Center in Hazard; and
• $30,000 from the Kentucky Trail Town Grant Program to the city of Hazard to help maintain and develop hiking trails.
“We marked more progress today on Skyview, bringing this dream closer to reality,” said Perry County Judge/Executive Scott Alexander. “We’re grateful for all the support we’ve received from the state to rebuild from the floods. We’ll continue working to bring more opportunity here to Perry County.”
“The funding leveraged through this grant allows us to purchase machinery that improves the speed and quality of the trails we build. We strive for the highest sustainability standards when building and appropriate equipment is how we achieve that,” said Desi Jarrell, Perry County’s director of waterways and outdoor programming. “With the ability to create sustainable trails faster, we can bring more recreation opportunities to those in our community and those that visit our unique, beautiful pocket of Southeastern Kentucky.”
Gov. Beshear announced the following projects for Letcher County:
• $15.3 million in Disaster Recovery funds to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to build the roads in the future Grand View neighborhood;
• $4.7 million in Disaster Recovery funds to the city of Jenkins to install water and sewer infrastructure at Grand View;
• $4.5 million in Disaster Recovery funds to the Letcher County Fiscal Court to turn the old Fleming-Neon High School into 18 affordable apartments; and
• $4.2 million in Disaster Recovery funds to HOMES Inc. to build 12 new homes in the community of Gish.
“We’re excited to be making progress here at Grand View,” said Letcher County Judge/Executive Terry Adams. “These projects we’re celebrating today will be transformative for our people. We know we have bright days ahead.”
Skyview (Perry County) and Grand View (Letcher County) will be new communities built outside the floodplain. Priority will be given to housing applicants that were impacted by the floods of 2021, 2022 or 2025. Nearly 100 homes will be built at Skyview, and nearly 90 homes will be built at Grand View.
In total, Gov. Beshear has announced eight high-ground communities across Perry, Knott, Letcher, Breathitt and Floyd counties.
Gov. Beshear is encouraging anyone who was impacted by the flooding of 2021, 2022 or 2025 to visit HousingCantWait.org and fill out an interest form. A team member from Fahe will get in touch with applicants, determine eligibility for Disaster Recovery housing and provide help with the housing process.