PADUCAH — Community leaders, landlords, and real estate professionals gathered Thursday at the Paducah Human Rights Commission's Fair Housing Luncheon to learn more about the state of local housing.
Guest speakers at the event detailed barriers preventing people from finding affordable, fair housing and how community members could play a role in expanding access to it.
Lasica Allen McEwen, program director for the Section 8 voucher program and interim executive director for the Paducah Housing Authority, described fair housing as a “cornerstone of equal opportunity in America.”
“For decades, the federal government has taken steps to eliminate discrimination housing practices and promote equality and access to safe, affordable housing,” she said.
McEwen said the Paducah Housing Authority and Section 8 voucher program are “essential protectors of civil rights.”
“We have to serve diverse communities and populations, including households with low income, people with disabilities, immigrants, seniors, and families with children,” she said.
McEwen emphasized the importance of landlords in high opportunity neighborhoods accepting housing vouchers.
“We must recruit, educate, and support landlords to participate in our Housing Choice Voucher Program,” she said. “Currently, we have 143 landlords on our program, and I know there’s probably more than 143 landlords in our community.”
McEwen said public housing should be a tool to help low-income families find stability and work toward their goals.
“Public housing is a start. It should not be where we finish,” she said. “You move in, you move up, and you move ahead. That’s where we need to be.”
Paducah Cooperative Ministry Executive Director Lacy Boling discussed how homelessness affects residents of Paducah and McCracken County.
With hands-on experience working as the Paducah Middle School sixth grade basketball coach, Boling saw what homelessness looked like firsthand.
“When we talk about, like, where are these homeless people? Why are these homeless people? It’s Paducah Middle School couch surfing. It’s Heath Middle School couch surfing,” she explained.
Now, working with PCM for more than two years, Boling works directly with unhoused people. She highlighted the idea that homelessness does not fit one mold, and people can be employed while still being unhoused. She said 91% of people living at Fresh Start Village, PCM’s temporary housing shelter, are employed.
“The problem that we’re up against is in Kentucky, we’re 206,000 houses short,” she said.
Not only is there a housing shortage, but individuals who work minimum wage jobs cannot afford fair market rent despite working 40 hours or more a week.
“I would have to work 116 hours at a minimum, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition … to afford a two bedroom rental home,” Boling said.
Due to the shortage of affordable housing and housing in general, it is impossible for families to secure a place to live.
“It's going to take affordable housing, and we'll have to be fair about how we do it, OK, and that's going to be 1,400 square feet or smaller units that are going to have to be built and rented to the people that typically get left out,” Boling said. “People are building 2,299 square feet homes and bigger. And that's not the solution.”
In addition to creating affordable homes, Boling prompted landlords to accept housing vouchers.
“This is a community effort, you see, that takes a community to solve. So the people in this room have the answer,” she said. “Become Section 8 landlords, become good landlords, because homelessness is not a choice, it’s a result of lack of housing.”
Paducah Planning Director Carol Gault said the city is working to “change the landscape of housing” through its Southside revitalization project. It started with a small target area on Southside Paducah, offering incentives for people to renovate homes and build in the area.
The revitalization plan is now expanding from Caldwell Street to Third Street and Kentucky Avenue.
“That has 1,061 parcels in that area; 405 of those parcels are vacant,” Gault said. “This city is committed to working with those property owners, some we have purchased ourselves, but we are committed to working in that area to create inventory for that affordable and livable housing.”
Gault encouraged developers interested in building affordable starter homes to reach out to the city’s planning department.
“What we need are developed properties. If you thought about having something, or, you know, a developer, or if you thought about having a home to rent, please reach out to us,” she said.
