HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. — Housing affordability is a critical issue in northern Kentucky where home prices continue to outpace wage growth. Many of the essential workers the region depends on are struggling to achieve the “American Dream” of homeownership, according to a study.

“The narrative has been for many years that we need affordable housing, which is kind of a euphemism for: we need subsidized housing. And we absolutely do need that. But there’s a whole other set of people that work full-time jobs, they’re not on welfare, they’re not on public assistance, but they can’t afford a home either. Because housing prices have risen so much faster than wages,” said Janet Harrah, senior director of the Center for Economic Analysis and Development in the Haile College of Business at Northern Kentucky University. 

She said there is a large swath of what used to be considered “very solid middle-class families,” but “those occupations are no longer middle class. Things like teachers, LPNs, firefighters, police officers, they can no longer afford a median price home in northern Kentucky.”

Harrah put together a study showing the disparity between median home prices and household income in northern Kentucky, which is further broken down by occupation.

A household must earn at least $69,920 annually to afford a median-priced home in Northern Kentucky, which is currently $291,720. This follows the rule that no more than 30% of income should go toward housing costs, with those exceeding considered “house burdened.”

“The bad news is we have lots of people that live and work here that really can’t afford to get into the housing market,” Harrah said. “The good news is that compared to other markets, Cincinnati is still very affordable. Not just northern Kentucky, but the whole metro area.”

Of the 630 detailed occupations in the study, just 177 or 28% can comfortably afford a median-priced home. Harrah said if current trends continue, northern Kentucky risks becoming unaffordable for the very workers who keep the region running.

“We need teachers, we need nurses, we need fire and police,” she said. “So we as a community need to figure out how do we make that job pay enough that they can still have a good quality of life and live in our community?”

Harrah said she doesn’t expect housing prices to decrease anytime soon. However, she said if people can wait another six to 12 months, she expects interest rates to go down, making it easier for people to buy a home.

OWSLEY COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — Sunday, FEMA released numbers and financial assistance updates for several states, but some people have taken to Facebook claiming they are being denied.

A similar situation happened to a Booneville, Kentucky grocery store owner, Bart Pattons, who lost his store in a massive flood in a Summer 2021.

LEX 18 spoke with Patton’s wife Julie back in 2021 when the flooding first hit their store. She showed off the major damage it had experienced.

“Everything in the store had to be thrown away. Everything. Noting was usable as far as groceries were concerned. Every item in the store had to go away. We’re talking about a lot of items. 15,000 items. Just different items. It all had to be trashed,” describes Bart who still gets teary eyed thinking about it.

Bart says he turned to FEMA assistance to help them back on their feet, but was met with refusal instead.

“We didn’t get any responses from FEMA at all. Thank goodness for our insurance and we were able to live through a problem or the store wouldn’t be there if we didn’t,” explains Bart who says they were never given a reason as to why they were denied.

Bart also admits he did not call FEMA after his application was denied to get answers as to why it was denied.

As of Sunday, the southeast is trying to survive after Hurricane Helene tore through six states and flattened
several cities.

FEMA announced federal assistance for survivors has passed $137 million. According to its website, the organization has approved of more than $30 million dollars in housing and other assistance to more than 27,000 households in North Carolina.

However, several people have taken to Facebook to state their FEMA assistant applications have been denied and those approved will only receive $750. FEMA claims that $750 is for those who applied for ‘Serious Needs Assistance’to cover essential items like food, water, baby formula, diapers, etc.

LEX 18 reached out to FEMA in Kentucky but have not received a call back.

“Just pray as though it depends on God. Act as though it depends on you. That’s about as simple statement as you can make cause you’re all you got,” said Bart.

Bart says the pain from that day is still fresh. The couple isn’t fully back on their feet yet.

His message to those going through the flood right now is be there for one another and help anyone who needs it.

If you would like to help those affected by Helene you can donate through American Red Cross.

Many fans were hoping the Kentucky Wildcats would move up in the rankings even with a bye week due to the major upsets that happened over the weekend in college football and with the Cats’ big upset win last weekend at No. 6 Ole Miss.

Kentucky continues to move up in the rankings in the Coaches Poll. The Week 7 Coaches Poll Top 25 has come out, and Kentucky received 12 votes in the latest poll, which would rank them No. 31 overall and help to move them up two spots from the previous weekend.

As for the latest AP Top 25 poll, Kentucky moved down in the rankings, coming in at No. 39 overall and only receiving one vote.

Last week, Kentucky was ranked No. 35 and received six votes to be in the top-25. Sadly, all the losses this past weekend did not help out the Cats.

It is worth pointing out that Brett McMurphy of Action Network HQ released his top 25 earlier and had Kentucky as his No. 25 overall team.

The SEC continues to dominate in the Coaches Poll with six teams ranked in the top 10, and in total, nine SEC teams made it into the top 25 for the Coaches Poll. Also, Louisville is no longer ranked after being upset by SMU while playing at home.

1. Texas
2. Ohio State
3. Oregon
4. Georgia
5. Penn State
6. Miami
7. Alabama
8. Ole Miss
9. Tennessee
10. LSU
11. Clemson
12. Notre Dame
13. Iowa State
14. Texas A&M
15. BYU
16. Oklahoma
17. Utah
18. Missouri
19. Kansas State
20. Indiana
21. Michigan
22. Boise State
23. Illinois
24. Pittsburgh
25. SMU

Others Receiving Votes: Southern California 102; Nebraska 68; Army West Point 36; Navy 26; Colorado 16; Kentucky 12; Arizona 12; UNLV 11; Texas Tech 8; Virginia 7; Washington 5; Liberty 5; Vanderbilt 4; Rutgers 3; Arkansas 3; Tulane 2; Louisville 2; Iowa 2; Syracuse 1; Arizona State 1

1. Texas
2. Ohio State
3. Oregon
4. Penn State
5. Georgia
6. Miami (FL)
7. Alabama
8. Tennessee
9. Ole Miss
10. Clemson
11. Iowa State
12. Notre Dame
13. LSU
14. BYU
15. Texas A&M
16. Utah
17. Boise State
18. Kansas State
19. Indiana
20. Oklahoma
21. Missouri
22. Pittsburgh
23. Illinois
24. Michigan
25. SMU

Others Receiving Votes: Southern Cal 98, Nebraska 51, Navy 43, Army 33, Vanderbilt 26, Arkansas 17, Washington St. 8, Iowa 8, Texas Tech 7, Syracuse 6, Washington 4, Louisville 4, Colorado 3, Kentucky 1.

Hopefully, if Kentucky can defeat Vanderbilt this Saturday, they can gain some more momentum in the AP Top 25 in hopes of finally being ranked or being very close to being in the Top 25.