The University of Louisville’s Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research researched and produced the “Making Louisville Home for Us All: A 20-year Action Plan for Fair Housing” report for the commission, in consultation with Metropolitan Housing Coalition, which coordinated development of the action steps.
“This plan offers concrete steps for making fair, affordable housing a reality in Louisville,” said UofL social scientist Catherine Fosl, lead researcher. “It is firmly grounded in our local history. That history includes persistent structural residential segregation and discrimination that are with us still, but it also includes concerted efforts and creative initiatives by many Louisvillians working together to end housing disparities and reduce poverty.
“This kind of long-term commitment by government and business leaders and ordinary citizens is an important part of what lies ahead in rooting out the vestiges of discrimination and making Louisville home for us all,” she said.
Two action steps proposed for the next three years are “real game-changers,” said Cathy Hinko, Metropolitan Housing Coalition executive director. One is to have a policy to review government actions’ impacts on fair housing; the other is to conduct a market analysis to assess housing demand by area, type, price, rental rate and connection to job centers.
The plan’s 70 steps are divided into five categories: government commitment, community education and engagement, built environment, funding opportunities and economic development, and legislative changes.
The report was made possible through a partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
For more information or to obtain a report copy, contact Fosl at the Anne Braden Institute, 502-852-6142 or cfosl@louisville.edu; Hinko at Metropolitan Housing Coalition, 502-584-6858 or cathy@metropolitanhousing.org; or Carolyn Miller-Cooper at Louisville Metro Human Relations Commission, 502-574-3631 or Carolyn.Miller-Cooper@louisvilleky.gov