HARD COVER – FRONT LETTER TO MHC MEMBERS THE LOUISVILLE MSA IS PART OF THE NATIONAL • Continuing support of LHOME which has gained certification as a ECONOMIC RECOVERY and there are new investments occurring in Community Development Financial Institution. the region. Does this mean that segregation has abated or that the need for housing affordable to those at or below 50 percent of median income • Continuing support of the Louisville Affordable Housing Trust Fund has lessened? Quite the contrary. • Continuing the MHC lending pool for non-profit housing developers While the unemployment rate is low, wages have lagged far behind the • Facilitating both the Fair Housing Coalition and the Louisville Vacant increase in the cost of housing, especially rental. The Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Properties Campaign. Fair Market Rent (FMR) for a two-bedroom unit within the Louisville MSA is • Helping produce forums on the impact on investment in western $821 whereas in 2008 it was $779 — an increase of over 5 percent. Real Louisville on housing. median household income in Louisville/Jefferson County was on a steady decline from 2008 to 2014, but as FMR has generally been on the rise since With this publication, MHC will have specific recommendations about 2008, households are strained in their capacity to afford rent. Incomes are preparing for the impact of increasing prosperity on those whose incomes have beginning to increase, but have not caught up with increases in rent. not increased and how to stabilize low-wage workers throughout the MSA. This report looks at the surprisingly high rate of evictions of renters in Highlights from this year’s report include: Louisville. Key findings show that while eviction rates are declining overall since 2000, census tracts in the western and southeastern parts • From 2000-2016, Louisville/Jefferson County total evictions were, on of Jefferson County have eviction rates that are higher than other areas average, more than half (54.0 percent) of all evictions statewide, and of Louisville. The report also looks at foreclosures because the rate of Louisville/Jefferson County eviction filings accounted for about two- foreclosure is still above what it was before the crisis (2005). The analysis thirds (66.9 percent) of the state total. Yet, Jefferson County contains only 21.1 percent of the state’s renter-occupied housing units. in the report shows that areas in the western part of Jefferson County are still struggling with higher foreclosure sales than other parts of • In 2016, 6,052 evictions occurred across the 12 counties in the Louisville Louisville. These places also had the largest shares of foreclosure filings MSA, for an eviction rate of 3.66 percent, which is higher than the in 2007 and 2005, according to MHC’s 2008 Louisville Foreclosure Crisis Kentucky eviction rate (2.91), but lower than Jefferson County (4.49). report, highlighting the enduring nature of the spatial concentration of • Among census tracts in Jefferson County, the average total evictions foreclosure in high poverty and majority non-white communities. in 2016 are 36.68 and the average rate is 5.18 percent. Tracts The report also looks at how Louisville and the whole Metropolitan with the 10 highest eviction rates all have rates of 12.0 percent or Statistical Area is changing and whether we have planned and acted to higher, which is higher than the 2001 peak eviction rate of 8.20 for ensure that low wage workers and those on fixed income are not in peril Louisville/Jefferson County. of being forced along to ever diminishing areas of affordability. There • Nearly three of every ten (29.5 percent) foreclosure sales occur in just are new and significant investments in areas of western Louisville that three zip codes (40212, 40211, and 40216), and each of these zip codes may bring much needed and welcome prosperity. The neighborhood account for more than 9.1 percent of total foreclosure sales in Louisville. typology developed in the report highlights areas facing the highest risk • The neighborhood typology finds 28 Louisville census tracts in one of for involuntary displacement. As real estate and commercial enterprises five stages of neighborhood change that illuminate risks of involuntary rise in these areas, where will those who have been limited to the areas displacement. These include: Susceptible tracts (11) with vulnerable of lowest rents and housing costs be able to live? populations near neighborhoods with increasing home values; Early How can we have a bright economic future if our residents, particularly Type 1 tracts (5) with vulnerable populations and increasing home children trying to learn, workers trying to be reliable and the elderly trying values; Early Type 2 tracts (3) with vulnerable populations and to maintain health are experiencing instability in housing? demographic change near neighborhoods with increasing home values; Dynamic tracts (8) with vulnerable populations, demographic change, MHC projects over the year included: and increasing home values; and Continuous Loss tracts (1) with • MHC intervening in two utility cases, keeping rates low and demographic change and high home values. promoting the demand-side management programs MHC not only gives you data, but analysis and action items. Get involved • Co-teaching a graduate level course at U of L entitled “Fair and as we keep working to improve our community. Affordable Housing in Louisville and Beyond.” • Continuing to advocate for fair and affordable housing throughout Jefferson County. • Producing videos on different aspects of rental readiness, rights and John P. Cullen Cathy Hinko responsibilities. MHC Board President Executive Director Metropolitan Housing Coalition i Metropolitan Housing Coalition CONTENTS Letter to MHC Members ....................................................................................................................................................i Involuntary Displacement ........................................................................................................................................ 1 – 20 A Brief History of Involuntary Displacement in Louisville ........................................................................................2 Examples of Current Areas of Public and Private Investment ..................................................................................3 Eviction Landscape in Louisville .............................................................................................................................5 Eviction Trends in Kentucky and Jefferson County, 2000-2016.......................................................................6 State of Evictions 2016 ..................................................................................................................................6 Louisville Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) ......................................................................................6 Louisville Compared to Peer Cities ........................................................................................................7 Diving Deeper: Evictions by Census Tracts in Louisville/Jefferson County .............................................7 Eviction Steps in Louisville/Jefferson County ...............................................................................................10 Foreclosures ..........................................................................................................................................................11 Foreclosure Rates in Jefferson County ..........................................................................................................11 Foreclosure Sales in Jefferson County Zip Codes ..........................................................................................11 Foreclosure Process in Kentucky and Indiana ...............................................................................................12 Characterizing Neighborhood Dynamics and Displacement Risk Type ...................................................................13 Policy and Program Recommendations .................................................................................................................18 Louisville Efforts ..........................................................................................................................................18 Additional Policy and Program Options ........................................................................................................20 Measures of Housing Affordability......................................................................................................................... 21 – 43 Measure 1: Concentration of Subsidized Housing ................................................................................................21 Measure 2: Housing Segregation .........................................................................................................................24 Measure 3: Fair Market Rents ..............................................................................................................................28 Measure 4: Production and Rehabilitation of Affordable Housing ........................................................................30 Measure 5: Homeownership .................................................................................................................................33 Measure 6: Housing Affordability (Ownership) ....................................................................................................35