The Kentucky Housing Task Force recently approved its final report on the state of the Commonwealth’s housing economy. According to the report, while Kentucky doesn’t have it as bad as many parts of the country, the state is nevertheless facing a growing housing shortage.
The document pointed to a variety of causes such as rising inflation rates, lack of infrastructure, cost of regulations and building permits, and natural disasters among other factors. State Representative Lindsey Burke moved to amend a part of the report pertaining to illegal immigration being a possible cause of the shortage; she was in favor of adding a sentence that clarified there was no substantial evidence proving the claim.
“I think adding that language is important because we heard a lot of research and evidence. And while I think it is a thing that one can use as conjecture, I don’t know that we heard testimony or evidence to support that. And so, I would be afraid that the report might not be completely accurate if it doesn’t reflect the fact that we didn’t have any presenter who documented that to be true,” said Burke.
When the amendment was proposed, Senator Jimmy Higdon abstained from voting on the matter.
“Even though there is no document, the people that made those comments came from credible sources even though there might not be any documentation to back that up. They were people who were knowledgeable of the situation,” said Higdon.
The amendment was passed and is reflected in the released report. It concluded many of the main causes of the shortage are supply-sided, with the lack of housing units as a contributing factor. The document can be viewed on the Legislative Research Commission’s website.