Bowling Green’s ongoing effort to increase access to affordable housing is continuing as city commissioners on Dec. 17 unanimously approved several bids totaling up to $2 million for the construction of 193 housing units, a move the city says marks a “significant increase” in Bowling Green’s affordable housing options.

The bids were awarded to Wabuck Development Company of Leitchfield, AU Associates of Lexington and local developer Live The Dream Development, Inc. The money comes from the city’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding.

Neighborhood and Community Services head Brent Childers said the units being built by Wabuck and AU — 191 of the 193 total — form part of a large-scale affordable housing announcement announced by Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear earlier this year, which will see 635 housing units constructed in Warren County.

“There were five projects announced by the state,” Childers said. “They are two of those five projects.”

Of the $2 million awarded by the city, Wabuck will receive $840,000, AU will get $660,000 and Live The Dream will get $500,000.

“We’re trying to be strategic in partnering that with the funding that the state was providing to try to get as many affordable units into Bowling Green and Warren County as we could,” Childers said.

Childers said the units Live The Dream is on the books to build are not part of the 635 units announced by the state. Rather, these will fill in the last remaining holes in one of the Housing Authority of Bowling Green’s already existing neighborhoods.

The lion’s share of the units will be multi-family spaces while Live The Dream’s projects are both duplexes. As for a timeline, the projects are still in the planning stages.

“They’re going through their environmental reviews right now,” Childers said. “We’re looking to finalize all of our stuff in the early spring, in conjunction with the state funding, and so that construction could start late spring, early summer.”

Rent in the units will be controlled, overseen by the Kentucky Housing Corporation. Childers said rental costs for the units will likely be at the targeted 60% of area median income category.

Once construction starts, he said it will likely be around 18 months before folks move in. At Bowling Green’s average of 2.5 people per housing unit, 483 people will have access to new housing.

Even as affordable housing announcements in town come in almost like clockwork, Childers said due to market forces with housing, the need for it will never go away.

“There’s always going to be a population that can’t afford what that market price is,” Childers said. “What you’re trying to do is to correct as much of that as you can through public investment, but you can never get it all.

“You’re trying to manage it the best that you can as a community, and trying to make as much impact to as many people as you can,” he said.