Housing — and the affordable kind — propelled most of the discussion at the Kenton mayors meeting

By Patricia Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter

Kenton County mayors gathered at the Ludlow city building Saturday to discuss a variety of issues concerning the cities and county.

Pat Crowley, vice president of governmental affairs in the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Apartment Association, led the discussion by giving a report.

“The legislature has an interim committee that’s going to be looking at housing, how we can get more for all incomes, from affordable to higher end,” he said. “But mostly affordable and attainable housing. Mike Clines, state rep from Campbell County, former principal of Covington Catholic, is the only Northern Kentucky person on that committee, and the first meeting is next Monday.”

Edgewood Mayor John Link asked him what he considers affordable housing, because the term is thrown out so much, and Crowley said the general perception of ‘affordable’ is subsidized, but he thought the next level would be ‘workforce’ housing. He cited Amazon, where people might be making $20 to $30 an hour, or if there was a police officer just starting out, or a nurse just starting out, they would need housing that they could afford. He said there is a need for both.

“Doesn’t inflation reflect affordable housing costs?” asked Taylor Mill Mayor Dan Bell. “I’m like John (Link), I hear the term affordable housing and I don’t understand that comment, because of all the dynamic that surrounds it.”

Independence Mayor Chris Reinersman said the new term is ‘income aligned’ housing, and he said the truth of the matter is that as the industry grows there are some people who can’t afford to live here.

Bell brought up the fact that subsidized housing doesn’t always work, and he cited the case of the Ida Spence subdivision in Covington where people were receiving vouchers to move out.

Crowley cited the progress Newport has made over the last 20 years, tearing down the old housing and building better affordable housing in the community.

“And I think as a part of this you are going to see some zoning reform,” he stated. “You know Steve Doan ran a bill out last year and it didn’t get traction, but people are talking about it. Cincinnati just passed it, Lexington is getting ready to pass it, and Columbus is doing it–it’s like a trend across the country. Communities are stepping back and looking at their zoning and trying to make it a little better, a little bit easier and affordable for developers to come in.”

Bell came back immediately, saying the bill Doan proposed had nothing that the Kentucky League of Cities liked or supported. He said it basically destroys KRS 100, and that ties everybody’s hands.

Crowley agreed that some things weren’t helpful but there were some things that should be looked at.

Northern Kentucky Area District Strategic Initiatives Manager Katie Jo Kirkpatrick reminded the group that the Area Development District did a comprehensive study about housing in Northern Kentucky, published last year. The study, she emphasized, is not an affordable housing study, but a housing study looking at all prices and types. Data shows that workforce job creation has outpaced workforce housing creation in the last five years and will continue to do so unless additional units at a wider variety of price points are built. The study — accessible here — in particular focused on the need for jobs paying $15-25/hour, as that is a large job growth sector.

If we want companies that are hiring to stay and thrive, Kirkpatrick said, we need places for their employees to live in this region.

Reinersman clarified that he thought the bill that Steve Doan suggested was intended to be a conversation starter.

“It was,” stated Mayor Link. Bell seconded that.

Reinersman related that there was a condo development in Independence, and though he wasn’t in favor of it, he said with the level of inflation, there is a need for workforce housing.

“We’ve got to figure this one out,” he said.

He continued to say he was at a meeting which related to this very issue, and someone told him they have to do something about the torches and pitchforks.

“We all know that’s true, as soon as anything comes up, you can’t even have a conversation over the cacophony of ‘torches and pitchforks’,” said Reinersman. “I’m not an advocate here, but I think we have to figure out a way to solve it.”

Mayor Bell said one of the things to think about is some of the housing is 501C3, and they don’t pay taxes at all.

“We have 48 units in Taylor Mill that do not pay taxes,” he said. “But the city is providing services. That’s not a good ratio in terms of how the city is going to provide those services.”

Crowley said the apartments are now in demand. The Apartment Association gets at least one call every couple of weeks from people who want to know how to get more apartments in their community.

“It used to be that people didn’t want to have apartment complexes,” he said, “but now they do. People want to live in apartments, much more than my generation did.”

He pointed out the apartments by Amazon and said the same company is building in Hebron.

Crowley said the need has been there for awhile, but nothing was done until the housing study came out, and now everyone is taking notice and starting to do something.

“I’d be interested to know how many 501C3 complexes there are in Kentucky, and how that equates to loss of income,” Mayor Bell said.

Crowley remembered that recently there was a sign in Mason, Ohio, that said there were new regulations for family housing, and he worried until he was told that it was a good thing, that conditions were changing.

Director of External Affairs John Stanton told people if they wanted to read the Housing Study, it is a very good read, and if anyone has questions they can refer to PDS Executive Director Sharmili Reddy.

Mayor Reinersman said Independence was trying to attract a company to their industrial park, and one of the topics that was brought up was “what kind of housing do you have?”

“It’s a hot topic,” said Kirkpatrick. “It isn’t going away.”