Housing Development Alliance (HDA), led by Executive Director Scott McReynolds, has been addressing housing challenges in Eastern Kentucky for over 30 years. Serving Perry, Breathitt, Knott, and Leslie counties, HDA confronts issues like substandard housing with “bad water, suspect heat systems, and rotting floors,” McReynolds describes.
Catastrophic flooding on July 28, 2022, exacerbated these problems, destroying approximately 500 homes and severely damaging thousands more, affecting up to 20% of the local housing stock.
As you can imagine, it was enormously difficult to accommodate the displaced. “We didn’t have a lot of vacant housing, so when we suddenly had several thousand households get displaced overnight, we couldn’t absorb them,” McReynolds explains. In response, HDA has implemented innovative programs, including job training for individuals in substance abuse recovery, enabling them to build homes for moderate-income families. This approach not only addresses housing shortages but also provides valuable skills to participants. McReynolds emphasizes the importance of flexible funding, as unrestricted post-flood resources have allowed HDA to explore rent-to-own models and other creative solutions to meet the diverse needs of its community.
