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Local/Regional » News Item Wednesday, May 07, 2003

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Housing profiled by district
Report meant to be resource for Metro Council
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By SHELDON S. SHAFER
sshafer@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal



BY KEITH WILLIAMS, THE COURIER-JOURNAL
Yvonne McAfee, a real estate agent who specializes in the inner-city market, said it's getting harder to obtain government grants for first-time home purchasers.

The typical home in Louisville Metro Council District 16, centered in Indian Hills, was valued at $220,054 in 2000.

The median home value in District 4 in central Louisville was $52,591.

Those were the extremes in median home values among the 26 Metro Council districts, according to a report to be released today that lists housing-related census data by council district.

The report, prepared by the University of Louisville Urban Studies Institute for the nonprofit Metropolitan Housing Coalition, is the first effort to break down census data by council district, said Jane Walsh, the coalition's executive director. It's meant to help council members get a better sense of the community as they make decisions on development and financial issues, she said. The coalition is an advocate of affordable housing for low-income people.

The report will serve "as a great road map &elipse; to help us implement a comprehensive housing strategy for the community," said Bruce Traughber, Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson's Community Development Cabinet secretary.

"We can use it to help set priorities for spending housing money," agreed council member Cheri Bryant Hamilton, D-5th District.

That's significant, since metro government expects to get nearly $20million in federal aid for housing programs in the next fiscal year.

Melissa Barry, the government's housing director, said that money will be distributed as various types of aid, including loans, grants and mortgage assistance for first-time home buyers. Some will be used for home-repair loans and for incentives for investors and nonprofit housing corporations to build dwellings in low-income areas.

The report, for which the coalition paid $13,000, doesn't contain conclusions or recommendations. The coalition will issue a report next month that will do that and include data on housing patterns based on race and income, Walsh said.

But the report being released today does highlight some trends — many of which are not surprising. For example, housing values and homeownership statistics in the council districts largely parallel income. The three districts with the lowest median housing values in 2000 were 4, 5 and 6 – all poorer, inner-city districts. Three eastern Jefferson County districts – 16, 18 and 19 – had the highest median housing values.

Hamilton, whose district includes Portland and areas near Shawnee Park, said the report affirms that her district has some of the community's oldest housing; 48 percent of the homes in District 5 were built before 1939.

It also affirms that "we need to put money into fixing up our old housing stock and enable people to remain" in their homes, Bryant said. She said she had that in mind during her last three years as 12th Ward Louisville alderwoman, when she directed more than $100,000 in public money into programs to provide home-repair loans, paint and other improvements for constituents.

With the suburban council members holding a majority, Hamilton said, one of the challenges council members who represent the former city of Louisville face is trying to maintain funding for inner-city housing.


Council member Kelly Downard, R-16th, whose district is one of the most affluent, said the report will be useful in monitoring housing patterns throughout the merged community.

Council President Ron Weston, D-13th, also said the housing report will be useful as council members work with neighborhood leaders to decide where and what types of new housing might be suitable.

Council member Willie Bright, D-4th, who represents the downtown area and nearby neighborhoods such as Smoketown, has the district with the most housing-related needs, according to the report. It ranks at or near the bottom in nearly all categories. .

Roselle Jefferson, a constituent of Bright's, said changing that pattern requires government support.

Jefferson said she paid nearly $80,000 for a modest, three-bedroom house in the 700 block of Coke Street in Smoketown last summer. A single mother with a 3-year-old daughter, Jefferson said she couldn't have bought the house without the help of a low-interest loan from the Kentucky Housing Corp.

"I have something I can call my own," she said.

"There is no question there is a shortage" of government housing assistance for needy people, said Bill Gatewood, a local housing and real estate consultant who served as head of the Louisville's community-development program in the mid-1970s.


Gatewood said he is helping several neighborhoods, including Smoketown and Shelby Park, develop housing strategies. The coalition report "provides solid, up-to-date information" in helping to draft neighborhood-level housing plans, he said.


Yvonne McAfee, a real estate agent who specializes in the inner-city market, said government grants for first-time home purchasers are harder to get than they used to be, but many private lenders are filling the gap.

Traughber noted several signs of progress in the coalition report. One is that the median value of homes countywide stood at $103,000 in 2000, up from $56,300 in 1990 — an 82.9 percent increase. That shows, he said, "that the surest way to increase personal wealth of families is to help them buy a home."


The data and district breakdown will be posted on the housing coalition's web site, www.metropolitanhousing.org, by Saturday.



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Housing Report for District 21

Housing Report




A partial synopsis of housing stock in our area, as reported in the housing study- 1990 to 2000, done by the University of Loisville Urban Studies Center


Our District 21 wraps around and takes in large land masses devoted to industrial and public/semi-public, as well as commercial use. It runs roughly from Eastern Parkway & Harrison Ave. on the north, south by Floyd , Fairmont, I264 , Taylor Blvd., New Cut Road on the west, to Palataka Rd, over to Fern Valley, following the airport line, more or less, on the south, to Preston on the east, following Preston back to Eastern Parkway & Harrison.

We had 12,880 husing units in 2000, a loss of approx. 1700 units from 1990. These units break up into 8252 detached single family units, a loss of 1200 over the decade. 271 attached units with a loss of 11.

We had 4290 multiple family units, an increase of 200+, & 45 mobile units, a loss of 172.

During the decade, the median price value went from $42,371 to $ 76,128, an increase of 79.7%

The entire report is available on the website http://www.metropolitanhousing.org/
If you have the equipment and the patience to look it up you might find it very interesting and informative, especilly the changes. What caused them? The bulldozer? Probably had a lot to do with it but a nunber of old houses that were converted after WWII to multi family, have been brought back to single family, causing a loss of housing units. Within several blocks, housing that had been rented was sold and went into owner-occupancy, but at the same time new rental units were being created. Do we know where?

The districts surrounding us are:

District 6 to the northwest ( Old Louisville ) which shows a 91.2 % increase in median housing value
District 10 to the east (Audubon ) shows an 83.2% increase in median value.
District 24 to the southeast ( Minor Lane ) shows a 78% increase in median value
District 13 to the southwest ( Old Third street Rd. )shows an 88.7 % increase in median value
District 15 to the west ( Cloverleaf & north Iroquois ) shows an 84.27 % increase in median housing value

In the decade of the 80’s, our area showed the highest gain in value in the city, possibly the entire county. We, who filled out the long form of the census, showed our estimate of the increase on our forms. When the preliminary report came out, other areas laughed at our guesstimates. When the final official report came out, it proved us correct.

You might want to look at the districts adjoining us and see how they are doing. You can also access the report through the neighborhood link site at neighborhoodlink.com/louisville/beech and look in the Hot Links for Housing Report.

According to the Mayor, this study will form the basis for planning over the next 10 years. We need to acquaint ourselves with it, if we are to keep up with the changes that are coming our way.


( median means half sold for more, half sold for less.)