Gov. Beshear Announces $13.5 Million for Housing Disaster Recovery for Eastern and Western Kentucky

Funds will rebuild single-family homes for homeowners, homebuyers

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Oct. 23, 2023) – Today, Gov. Andy Beshear announced the first round of Rural Housing Trust Fund (RHTF) Awards, which will build 115 new homes in disaster-impacted counties and repair 45 homes for disaster survivors in Eastern and Western Kentucky.

The $13.5 million was awarded to nine nonprofit housing agencies that are helping Kentuckians recover from the 2021 tornadoes that struck Western Kentucky and the 2022 flooding that impacted Eastern Kentucky. The recipients are as follows:

The $13.5 million is just the first round of rebuilding efforts from the fund. The RHTF was created in March 2023 when the Governor and lawmakers agreed during the last legislative session to allocate $20 million in State Aid Funding for Emergencies (SAFE) – $10 million to the East and $10 million to the West – to aid disaster-impacted communities to help rebuild and repair homes. The legislation placed administrative responsibilities within the Kentucky Housing Corporation (KHC) and mandated the creation of an RHTF Advisory Committee.

In less than seven months, KHC has crafted program regulations and policies, convened the RHTF Advisory Committee, sought feedback from partners in Eastern and Western Kentucky, released a Notice of Funds Available (NOFA), reviewed applications and awarded the first round of funds.

This round of funding focuses on home repair, recovery and reconstruction to help existing owners impacted by disasters and single-family homebuyer development to bring new homes to disaster-impacted markets.

Soon, KHC will release another notice of funds available to focus on rebuilding apartments in Western Kentucky. This NOFA will include other KHC funds as well as disaster recovery funds overseen by the Department for Local Government. To learn more about the RHTF, click here. To learn more about KHC, click here.

Today’s news furthers work by Gov. Beshear’s administration to help every family and community in the West and the East recover and rebuild.

Earlier this month, Gov. Beshear updated Kentuckians on high-ground communities being built in Eastern Kentucky to give those who survived the floods a new home. In October, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development approved the necessary environmental review of the property in Hazard, called Sky View. This approval allows the state to move forward with construction activities, like an access road to get equipment up to the site and installing water, wastewater and electric infrastructure. About 125 homes will be built for flood survivors in the first phase of home construction.

On the first homes at the Cottages at Thompson Branch, located near the community of Whitesburg, the Governor announced that Kentucky Power has begun stringing lines to bring electricity to first a wastewater lift station and then power for the 10 homes. This is a first-of-its-kind partnership with local, state and federal groups, like FEMA, coming together. The Governor has also previously announced work on new, safe communities in Talcum and Leburn in Knott County and in Floyd County.

In August, Gov. Beshear joined local leaders from The Hope Initiative in Western Kentucky to hand over keys to the 100th new home built for tornado survivors that was funded in part by the Team Western Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund. At the time, over 124 projects were completed, under construction or approved to start construction with the support of nearly $8 million from the fund. In total, $21.6 million has been committed from the fund to build or significantly repair 300 homes. The Governor continues to thank nonprofit building partners, including The Hope Initiative, Habitat for Humanity, Homes & Hope for Kentucky, Fuller Center Disaster Rebuilders, The Mayfield/Graves Fuller Center for Housing and The Mayfield/Graves Long-Term Recovery Group.