Bench & Bar September/October 2025

ENDNOTES 1 University of Kentucky study, “Hous ing in Kentucky, 2025,” Screen capture, 6.30.25. 2 “Updates to the 2025 Kentucky Housing Task Force,” presentation by Winston Miller, CEO and executive director, Ken tucky Housing Corporation, and Wes ley K. Smith, deputy executive director, 6.30.25. 3 Alex Horowitz of the Pew Charitable Trusts, presentation to the Kentucky Housing Task Force, 6.30.25. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid. 6 AARP study, “Making Room: Housing for a Changing America,” 2019. 7 Mullen and Smith. 8 Horowitz. 9 New York Times, “Cities Start to Ques tion an American Ideal: A House with a Yard on Every Lot,” Emily Badger and Quoctrung Bue, 6.18.19. 10 Ibid. 11 Ibid. 12 Los Angeles Times, report by Liam Dil lon, 4.29.24. 13 NPR, “The hottest trend in U.S. cities? Changing zoning rules to allow more housing,” Laurel Wamsley, article posted 2.17.24.

compromise the structural engineering of the home. The home must be placed at a depth below grade adequate to prevent frost damage. Any architectural standards for manufac tured homes must not be more stringent than those applying to single-family structures in the same zone. Setback requirements, lot dimensions, and orienta tion of the home on its lot must not be more stringent than those for site-built homes. The new law “shall not be construed to affect, modify, or abolish restrictions con tained in recorded deeds, covenants, or developers subdivision restrictions.” The law also does not constrain local authority to regulate historic properties or historic districts. Anticipating that local governments might need time to modify their regulations, HB 160 does not take effect until July 1, 2026.

The law avails Kentucky of one technique among an array of them to increase housing supply. Creating more supply by the promo tion of multi-family housing, easing parking requirements, and incentivizing office-to housing conversions perhaps will be on the agenda in future legislative sessions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A regular contrib utor, JAMES P. DADY is a member of the Communica tions and Publications Committee. He lives in Bellevue, where he is chairman of its Planning and Zoning Commission.

The way forward TM

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