Housing concerns in Rowan County could get more attention as the Morehead community is set to grow over the next several years. St. Claire HealthCare and the University of Kentucky have merged and announced expanded facilities, clinical offerings, and staff. This has some asking if the area has enough space to accommodate all the new workers expected to move into the area.
Rowan County Judge Executive Harry Clark said even without the hospital’s expansion, Rowan County would still be in a housing deficit.
“This shortage has been going on, this is nothing new, this shouldn’t be nothing new to anybody across this state or across the United States. The housing shortage is truly impacting all counties, states. We've seen this coming some time ago, so we actually had a housing study completed,” said Clark.
Now Clark said a housing task force meets regularly to find solutions to the problem. According to data from kentuckyhousing.org, there are over 9,000 households in Rowan County and a deficit of 1,100 places to live. Clark said the community has plans in place to help accommodate the influx of people, and this is all just a part of growth.
“We’re working on that, we’re actively, we’re meeting now, probably about every month right now were meeting, so we’re working on that shortage of housing, this added to it, but nobody should be surprised, we’ve had the same issues, this just brings it to the forefront,” said Clark.
That’s why Clark said his office is working with state officials and local businesses to grow interest in building in Morehead. Clark said he wants to find ways to incentivize living in the area and adds that the hospital expansion will likely be a large draw for that on its own.
The expansion of UK Saint Claire is already in the planning phase and is expected to progress over the next six years.