MHC will release the 2013 State of Metropolitan Housing Report at a press conference and forum on Tuesday, December 10th at noon at the Louisville Urban League, 1535 West Broadway, Louisville, KY. The report examines nine indicators of fair and affordable housing progress in the 13-county Louisville Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). In addition to the nine measures, this year’s report focuses on renters, a growing segment of the community.
“The State of Metropolitan Housing Report is critically important for the Louisville area as it provides a clear and ongoing record of the challenges we as a community face in making safe, decent, affordable housing available to everyone in our community regardless of race, ethnicity, or income,” said Adam Hall, MHC’s board president and Assistant Vice President, Community Development Relationship Manager II with Fifth Third Bank. “Without this type of long-term and consistent data, we would be challenged to track our progress and judge the success of efforts to increase and improve the quality of affordable housing in our community,” added Hall.
The report is made possible by the generous support of Louisville Metro Government through the Department of Community Services and Revitalization, Louisville Metro Council Neighborhood Development Fund- with thanks to Metro Councilmembers Marianne Butler, Cindi Fowler, Madonna Flood, Robin Engel, Cheri Bryant Hamilton, Tina Ward-Pugh, Tom Owen, Vicki Aubrey Welch, David James, Barbara Shanklin, Attica Woodson Scott, David Yates, Rick Blackwell, Jim King, Jerry Miller, Dan Johnson, Kelly Downard, Glen Stuckel and Mary C. Woolridge for their support of this year’s report – PNC Bank, BB&T Bank, Fifth Third Bank and the Gannett Foundation.
The data in the 2013 SMHR shows:
- The 2011 homeownership rate for the Louisville MSA was 63 percent, the lowest rate of homeownership for the Louisville area since the State of Metropolitan Housing Report began tracking the figure in 2003.
- There were 15,316 homeless students in Jefferson County Public Schools during the 2011-2012 academic year, and an additional 1,091 homeless students in the surrounding Louisville MSA counties.
- Following the redistricting in November 2011, most Louisville Metro Council districts saw little change in the percentage of subsidized housing units in their respective districts. Council districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 15 combined are still home to nearly all (93 percent) of all subsidized units.
- The median household income for renters in the Louisville MSA is $26,572, which falls short of the income needed to afford a two-bedroom unit at FMR by $2,287 annually.
- The Louisville MSA saw a total of 4,511 foreclosures in 2012, an increase of 91 percent since 2002, but a decrease of 20 percent from 2011.
The focus topic of the 2013 State of Metropolitan Housing Report is Renters and Rental Housing. The housing market is Louisville is different from than it was 7 years ago. We have 49,747 more people living in rental housing units in 2012 than there were in 2005 and slight drop (4,663 fewer people) in the population living in owned housing units (this also represents a 16 percent increase in the number of rental households and a 2 percent decrease in owner households). Yet rental housing is confined to a really small geographic area in Louisville. When we look at renters, we see that people under the age of 35 are twice as likely to rent as own. The significance is that people are older before they purchase a home. Equally interesting is that 22 percent of renters have incomes over $50,000 a year. More affluent people are choosing to rent. The future in Louisville may encourage residential tenures that are somewhere between rental and ownership with innovative equity building methods.
The Metropolitan Housing Coalition, made up of over 300 member organizations and individuals, has advocated for fair, safe and affordable housing for all people in the Louisville MSA, often working closely with many grassroots organizations and direct service providers, for more than two decades.
The 2013 State of Metropolitan Housing Report will be available from MHC by calling the office at 502-584-6858 and will be available on-line at www.MetropolitanHousing.org as of December 11.
Contacts for the Metropolitan Housing Coalition
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Authors of the report:
Lauren C. Heberle, Ph.D.
Carol Norton, AICP
Allison Smith, Ph.D.
Center for Environmental Policy and Management
University of Louisville
Phone: 502.852.3869
Email: lauren.heberle@louisville.edu
carol.norton@louisville.edu
