$50M housing amendment filed on EKY flood relief bill. Will legislature support it?

Both Gov. Andy Beshear and legislative leaders worked in the background for days on a package unveiled on Wednesday to provide nearly $213 million for flood relief in Eastern Kentucky. The current version of the bill addresses issues with schools, infrastructure and local government coffers, among other needs in the region.

But Sen. Brandon Smith, R-Hazard, thinks one major piece of the puzzle is missing.

The Eastern Kentucky senator filed a surprise floor amendment that would add $50 million to the package specifically for an affordable housing program.

Smith, who represents some of the counties hardest hit by the flood, said that he was taken aback when he first saw that the bill did not allocate any money specifically for housing.

“I feel compelled to do this because if we don’t, we’ll have the largest out-migration in the history of Appalachia. People want to have housing,” Smith said.

Smith’s amendment would allocate an extra $50 million from the Budget Reserve Trust Fund to the Division of Emergency Management to collaborate with the Kentucky Housing Corporation and other state agencies on an affordable housing program. $200 million of the current package that is slated to pass on Friday comes from the Budget Reserve Trust Fund, also known as the rainy day fund.

Record surpluses in the past two fiscal years, combined with budget decisions from savings-minded members of the legislature, have led to the Budget Reserve Trust Fund topping out at a record $2.7 billion.

Smith’s proposal comes as some in the region, the Herald-Leader has reported, are living in tents as they wait to see what kind of housing relief might come from FEMA or the state.

“What we don’t understand is why we would take an existing housing crisis, watch thousands of those precious existing houses wash down river or fill up with flood water (with all of your humanly possessions if not human life!), and decide now is the time to do EVEN less,” Smith wrote in a Facebook post.

An earlier draft of the bill included $15 million for housing, but the current version does not designate any funding specifically addressing the issue.

Spokespeople for the Gov. Andy Beshear’s office, House Speaker David Osborne and Senate President have not yet responded to requests for comment on Smith’s amendment.

Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, declined to comment on the amendment.

When asked about housing earlier this week, Beshear emphasized that the primary intermediate solution – between short-term congregate shelters and a final, long-term solution for those displaced – so far is travel trailers. The total number of people in some form of emergency, short-term shelter was just over 600 as of Thursday, per Kentucky Emergency Management.

Beshear acknowledged the earlier drafted allocation, which would have gone to the Kentucky Housing Corporation – an affordable housing agency attached to the Finance and Administration Cabinet – and said that it’s still being considered for the regular session.

“We’re still looking at long term use of that,” Beshear said. “The question is, would we have even deployed it in that period of time and/or should it come through a regular session where we can have those plans already put together.”

Stivers echoed Beshear, adding that while housing isn’t addressed explicitly in the initial relief package, that doesn’t mean it won’t be later.

Smith and one of the primary nonprofits on the ground argue that the current plan simply isn’t enough to keep people in the area. He cited applications to the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky for assistance, where 1,722 people listed their homes as total losses and 3,986 said their homes were partial losses. Smith argued that those figures were plenty reason for the state to cough up more money for housing, also pointing to specific allocations made to other problem areas like road and bridge infrastructure, which was allocated $45 million.

“Infrastructure is great, but what is the desk without a student? What is this infrastructure if there’s nobody in that holler? What’s the bridge if there are no houses,” Smith said.

Some outside advocates agree with Smith.

Kentucky Center for Economic Policy Executive Director Jason Bailey called the lack of housing funds in the package “a major shortcoming.”

The Kentucky Equal Justice Center started a letter-writing campaign on the issue this week.

“At this point, thousands of Kentucky families either partially or completely lost their homes in the flooding and are living in state parks, temporary trailers and even tents. Tell Kentucky’s lawmakers that they must include funding to provide funding for safe, affordable housing for our neighbors before the weather turns cold, and to begin building permanent, flood-resilient houses,” the organization wrote in a post.

When asked whether he was concerned that filing an amendment to a bill that leadership and the governor had already agreed upon, Smith said that he didn’t care and that he thought many Senators feel as strongly as he does about the issue. He also pointed out that nobody attempted to block his floor amendment.

Leadership controls committee chair assignments. Smith, who works in the energy business, is currently chair of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources & Energy.

“If it pisses people off because I’m saying ‘we’ve got to address these issues, we’ve got to build this place back and do it right to get them quality homes’ then so be it,” Smith said. “... When this thing is said and done, whether I’m a Senator or not or whether I’m a chairman or not, I will always be Eastern Kentucky.”