COVINGTON, Ky. — The City of Covington announced late last week that it was inviting developers to submit development proposals for unused city-owned parcels.
The requests are part of the mayor’s affordable housing initiative launched earlier this year, which seeks to inventory and meaningfully develop city-owned land throughout Covington.
“Improving housing availability and affordability is one of my top priorities,” said Mayor Ron Washington in a city press release. “By putting these properties into the hands of capable developers, we’re turning liabilities into opportunities, creating new homes and building stronger neighborhoods.”
In May, Washington gave a presentation to the Board of Commissioners in which he presented data related to housing in Covington. The research pulled from several sources and came away with a handful of key takeaways:
- Covington has a higher number of affordable rental units than neighboring communities, but these units are often older and in poor condition
- 60.5% of Covington residents are renters
- There is a dearth of middle-income rental properties in the city and a rising demand for one to two-bedroom units
- The city needs to develop a strategy for building out affordable options for people making less than 50% of the area median income. Covington’s median area income is $58,814.
- Covington needs to furnish 891 new units of housing by 2028 to keep up with demand.
- There are around 200 vacant and abandoned properties in the city.
- The city holds title to about 50 lots
The 10 parcels for which the city is now seeking proposals have been combined into five request for proposal, or RFP, packages, listed below:
- 1129 – 1131 Banklick Street & 1136 – 1140 Holman Avenue (both property clusters are in the same RFP)
- 1225 – 1227 Banklick Street
- 1323 Russell Street
- 2116 – 2118 Donaldson Avenue
- 2207 Madison Avenue
Developers interested in learning more about submission criteria and submitting proposals can do so at the City’s dedicated submission page. Developers can submit proposals until Oct. 16 at 10:30 a.m.
