Safe & Stable Housing for All- All Peoples Justice Center’s Community Appeal

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How Louisville can move more people from the street into safe housing- All Peoples Includes its Voice in this Appeal

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Safe & Stable Housing for All

Guest columnists- Courier- Journal April 20, 2025

In every neighborhood across Louisville, families are feeling the strain of housing instability more than ever. From Shawnee to downtown to Jeffersontown and everywhere in between, our neighbors face the challenges of housing insecurity. In so many ways, Louisville is growing with positive momentum: We are a city working to expand support for families, where children are given the tools to succeed. Our business districts and tourism industry draw visitors from around the world. And our neighborhoods are enriched by the diversity of our residents, bringing new Louisvillians each year who choose to make our city home.

Yet, amid this growth and promise, Louisville’s housing challenges are more dire than ever. Rising rents and the lack of housing options impact the pocketbooks of our neighbors and the well-being of our city. The gap between available affordable housing and the growing demand for more units continues to widen. Louisville’s housing shortage reflects a national trend, but its consequences are personal.

Housing organizations and agencies hear the stories of displaced families and see clients sleeping on the street when shelters are full. Last year, organizations banded together to create the Safe & Stable: Housing for All campaign, a collective request for more resources to support housing stability in Louisville. We have come together to collaborate and to speak with one clear, collective voice for the need for continued public-private partnership in addressing our community’s housing needs.

Louisville Metro budget must invest more in housing

Our city leaders have committed to addressing this need by allocating investments into our housing infrastructure changing thousands of lives. We call on our city’s leadership to build on the progress they have made in previous budgets, in partnership with direct service providers, by making targeted investments in the upcoming Louisville Metro Government budget with the following allocations:

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  • $3 million for homeless initiative funding to support case management and emergency shelter services.
  • $3.1 million in housing stability programming including targeted investment in upstream intervention that provides long-term workforce stabilization and prevents homelessness for seniors and young children.
  • $25 million for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund which supports the development of affordable housing units across Louisville and leverages $13 of private investment for every $1 of public investment.

Moving people from the street into the safe and stable housing

The inability to find safe and stable housing is a daily reality for too many Louisvillians. Our city needs more than 36,000 units of affordable housing for households at 30% of area median income, or about $29,500 for a family of four. Every day, families living paycheck to paycheck face uncertainty when an unexpected car repair or medical bill derails their tenuous financial stability and ability to make their mortgage payment or rent. Households that lack support systems and resources — that so many of us take for granted — find themselves out of their homes and into the streets without access to services that prevent their displacement. Meanwhile, Louisville’s 850 shelter beds are full every night.

We know that data-driven programs and investments are already making a difference in our community, and that additional funding will significantly advance efforts to serve our current homeless population, intervene with households at risk of housing instability, and develop more affordable housing units.

Mayor Craig Greenberg and the Metro Council have an opportunity to continue the momentum, to move people from the street and into housing, to help a family stay housed, and to create new opportunities toward the American dream of safe and stable housing that each of us deserves.

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For more information on Safe & Stable: Housing for All, visit safeandstablelouisville.com.

Safe & Stable Housing for All (ACLU of Kentucky; ADOS KY; Black Leadership Action Coalition of Kentucky Action Fund (BLACK AF); Center for Neighborhoods; Change Today, Change Tomorrow; Coalition for the Homeless; Community Foundation of Louisville; Goodwill Industries of Kentucky; Greater Louisville Inc.- the Metro Chamber of Commerce; Jewish Family and Career Services of Louisville; Kept Inc.; League of Women Voters Louisville; Louisville Downtown Partnership; Louisville Outreach for the Unsheltered; Louisville Showing Up for Racial Justice; Louisville Urban League; Maryhurst; Metro United Way; Metropolitan Housing Coalition; Neighbor Network; New Directions Housing Corporation; People Advocating Recovery; Pushing Forward; REBOUND, Inc.; River City Housing, Inc.; Russell: A Place of Promise; St. John Center; St. Vincent de Paul Louisville; The Association of Community Ministries; The Flagstone Initiative; The Fuller Center for Housing of Louisville; The Housing Partnership, Inc.; The Justice Center at All Peoples; UP for Women and Children; USI; VOCAL-KY.org; Volunteers of America Mid-States; and Young People In Recovery-Louisville)