Kentucky's housing market is short about 200,000 houses and rental units.

That's what the Kentucky Housing Corporation told state lawmakers last month.

Today, local leaders of counties, big and small, describe what the housing shortage looks like in their communities.

Kentucky Additions June Leffler has more in tonight's legislative update.

The Blue Oval Escape battery plants are bringing thousands of jobs and people to Hardin County.

Elizabeth Towns mayor says that growth is sending housing prices skyrocketing, causing a burden even in his own home.

I have a 24 year old son that's a Hanover grad, graduated two years ago, and he's now working, selling insurance for a farm here in Kentucky.

That's well known.

And he's doing a really good job.

But he's still living in my house because he's not married and doesn't have two incomes to go out with these interest rates and find something that's affordable that he can afford right now.

And so we need to tackle that problem because I need to free up some space in my house, too.

If you if you all understand that.

This isn't unique to Hardin County.

Elected leaders from communities of all sizes tell Kentucky lawmakers they need more housing for everyone.

City officials say Louisville is so populous it doesn't have enough land to build out, so it will have to build up.

If we don't add density to our city, to our county, we will not be able to grow as a city.

We will not be able to grow the economy.

He's not talking about 17 story buildings full of people that need more services than we can provide.

But you know, I live in the Highlands in Louisville now, so you might walk past a single family home and the home next door is a duplex.

And the home next door is an apartment building.

And it makes for a beautifully diverse neighborhoods.

Rural counties might have the space but need infrastructure to support developers and eventually residents.

And specifically in Marshall County, the areas where you would be able to do that, which would be outside the cities, that that would allow that much development.

Unfortunately, we don't have the infrastructure there already.

A Boone County official says everyone from folks on fixed incomes to college educated professionals struggled to find an affordable home.

What we found right away do a great job of building three and four bedroom, single family houses.

What we're not building is one bedroom and two bedroom units, whether owner occupied or rental.

Federal housing vouchers do help.

Some of the lowest income renters.

Some cities had ways to mandate landlords rent to tenants with these vouchers.

But this year, state lawmakers made those income discrimination bans illegal.

With the passage of House Bill 18.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm June Lefler.