Like most states, Kentucky is facing a serious housing shortage, but a bill introduced in the Kentucky Senate would recruit religious organizations to help.

Senate Bill 59, sponsored by Sen. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, would allow churches and other religious groups to bypass local zoning rules to build affordable housing on their property.

“Churches have always been beacons of hope and service in our communities, and this bill empowers them to do even more to help address the housing crisis in Kentucky,” Higdon said.

The Sisters of Loretto, based in Marion County, have a long-standing ministry focused on providing affordable housing, and were an inspiration for the legislation.

Higdon’s bill is a worthwhile effort to address the needs identified by the Kentucky Housing Task Force, a group of legislators who met throughout 2024 to study the issue.

The task force found that Kentucky has a shortfall of about 206,000 housing units, a shortage that hits low-income families and individuals the hardest and has undoubtedly aggravated Kentucky’s growing homelessness problem.

Testimony heard by the task force suggested a variety of reasons for the housing crisis, including inflation and higher interest rates, fewer home builders and construction workers, and cumbersome and restrictive building regulations and zoning rules.

Higdon’s bill is meant to address the zoning and regulation barrier to new housing units. Churches that use their property to build housing that will serve households whose income does not exceed 80 percent of the median income for the area, can avoid local approval processes established by planning and zoning boards.

The city or county government would still have to approve the development, and builders would have to comply with all construction and safety requirements.

Higdon’s bill is only a partial solution, of course, and lawmakers need to consider a more comprehensive slate of proposals to make the dream of home ownership – or at least affordable rent – a realistic goal for every family.

Other ideas considered by the Kentucky Housing Task Force last year included tax credits or low-cost loans to encourage builders to focus on more affordable housing projects, further rollbacks of zoning restrictions and construction regulations, and the elimination of sales tax on manufactured homes. These ideas are all worthy of discussion.

Of course, local communities should have the right to regulate how and where housing gets built in their communities, so lawmakers should encourage a stronger housing supply while honoring the integrity of local neighborhoods and sustainable development.

Finally, the task force acknowledged some sources of the housing crisis for which there is little political will to address. Immigration, including some untold amount of illegal immigration, has also aggravated the housing shortage. But perhaps an even bigger issue is the dramatic decline in family formation, which has vastly increased the number of individual adults living alone.

Encouraging family formation and restricting illegal immigration may be much harder than passing tax credits or waving zoning rules but are no less important for a sustainable and thriving commonwealth in the long run, and lawmakers shouldn’t shy away from addressing these sources of the housing crisis.

– Gary Houchens, PhD, is director of the educational leadership doctoral program and professor in the School of Leadership and Professional Studies at Western Kentucky University.