WCPO 9's Logan MacDonald covers Northern Kentucky. If you have a story that you'd like Logan to look into or a news tip, email him at Logan.MacDonald@WCPO.com.
COVINGTON, Ky. — Northern Kentucky is facing a housing supply crisis, and buyers are feeling the pressure as homes disappear from the market almost as soon as they are listed.
AJ Vest, a Northern Kentucky homebuyer, has experienced it firsthand.
"(It's) really turbulent, I guess is probably the best way to describe it," Vest said. "The best houses are not staying on the market, especially in my kind of starter home price range, which is where I've been looking. Houses are being bid up like nothing else."
According to 2024 data from the Kentucky Housing Corporation, Kenton, Campbell and Boone counties are a combined 25,000 housing units short of meeting their workforce needs.
Covington-based The Catalytic Fund is looking to address that gap with a new Northern Kentucky Housing Fund.
"Our goal with the fund is really to make homes more affordable to all of our residents already living here, allow family formation to start easier at a lower cost and to help attract more of a workforce to our area as we continue to grow," said Joe Klare, COO of The Catalytic Fund.
WATCH: Learn more about the work to address NKY's housing shortage
The fund will try to ease the financial burden on builders, allowing them to focus on adding new homes across the region. Klare said the fund will offer low-interest loans to builders to help make projects financially viable.
"These will be loans, but they'll be at very low interest rates that allow projects to move forward that otherwise financially may not be able to happen," Klare explained to WCPO. "Also, it helps to increase the affordability of those units. When we invest at a lower rate, you obviously don't have to rent as much at as high of a level in order to kind of make your debt payments if the interest rates lower."
Doug Vagedes of Oak & Stone Development said access to financing is one of the biggest hurdles builders like himself face, and a fund like this could make a real difference.
"Getting funds is always a challenge, so when there's a fund like this for builders, definitely helps," Vagedes said.
In the meantime, Vest said he is not giving up on his search.
"Keep at it like a woodpecker in a petrified forest, you know. Keep your head down and look for opportunities," Vest said with a smile.
You can find the latest stats about Kentucky's housing shortage by clicking the link here.
Have a story idea or tip for WCPO 9 Northern Kentucky reporter Logan MacDonald? Email him at Logan.MacDonald@WCPO.com.
