20-Year Action Plan for Fair and Affordable Housing

Photo credit: Phoenix Lindsey-Hall, Metropolitan Housing Coalition 2009

A 20-year action plan to improve fair housing, released on February 13, 2014 at the Louisville Metro Human Relations Commission’s annual Race and Relations Conference, documents that residential segregation remains a major problem in Louisville and suggests remedies.

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.

Download the 20-Year Action Plan for Fair Housing (7.6mb)