The Kentucky Chamber brought together members of Kentucky’s congressional delegation, state lawmakers, business leaders, and housing industry partners this week for conversations focused on increasing housing supply and ensuring communities have the homes needed to support continued economic growth.
Congressmen Brett Guthrie and Morgan McGarvey participated in separate Kentucky Chamber events in Louisville as Kentucky continues working to address a shortage of more than 200,000 homes. The conversations build on work by the Kentucky Chamber, Home Builders Association of Kentucky, and Kentucky Realtors, which met with more than 100 community and business leaders across six regions this summer and found widespread concern about whether communities have the housing needed to support business investment and population growth. In 2024, the Chamber hosted a similar statewide tour that led to the report, Building a Foundation for Growth.
The meetings also followed bipartisan action by Congress in June on the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. The legislation includes provisions addressing housing supply, homeownership, financing for residential development, and barriers to construction.
Guthrie Joins Housing Leaders for Kentucky Chamber Roundtable
Congressman Guthrie joined Kentucky Chamber Board Chair-elect Kim Halbauer of Fifth Third Bank, Chamber President and CEO Ashli Watts, Sen. Julie Raque Adams, Rep. Susan Witten, and leaders from the home building, real estate, banking, nonprofit, and housing sectors for a roundtable focused on Kentucky’s housing needs and opportunities.
Watts discussed how housing has emerged as a major business issue, with employers and communities increasingly raising concerns about whether there is enough housing to support working families and economic growth. The Chamber has elevated housing as a key policy priority, working with partners to increase supply and address barriers that make building more difficult or expensive.
Guthrie discussed his work on the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act and the bipartisan effort behind its passage, while emphasizing that federal action is only part of the solution to the housing shortage. He pointed to infrastructure, manufactured housing, access to financing, and regulatory costs as key factors affecting the ability to build more homes, noting that many of those decisions are made at the state and local levels.
The conversation then turned to what Kentucky can do next to increase housing supply and lower barriers to development heading into the 2027 legislative session.
Rep. Witten, co-chair of the General Assembly’s Housing Task Force, discussed the need for more starter and working-family homes and opportunities to remove roadblocks to development. Sen. Raque Adams, also a member of the task force, emphasized the need for housing options for Kentuckians at different stages of life and the role homeownership plays in creating stable families and communities.
The discussion also included representatives and members from the Home Builders Association of Kentucky, Kentucky Realtors, Arnold Ventures, Kentucky Bankers Association, Goodwill Industries of Kentucky, Family Scholar House, Kentucky Housing Corporation, and Habitat for Humanity Kentucky.
McGarvey Discusses Housing Supply, Economic Impact
Housing was also a key focus as the Kentucky Chamber hosted Congressman Morgan McGarvey for a luncheon at the Goodwill West Louisville Opportunity Center.
McGarvey joined AT&T Kentucky President Carlos Sanchez, who serves as vice chair of public affairs for the Kentucky Chamber’s Board of Directors, for a conversation about economic competitiveness, workforce, housing, and other federal issues.
McGarvey discussed the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act and the ways the legislation aims to broaden access to homeownership, support more affordable and manufactured housing, and expand access to smaller-dollar mortgages.
When asked what communities should do now that Congress has acted, McGarvey emphasized the need to build substantially more housing and pointed to the broader economic impact of home construction, including jobs throughout construction and its supply chain.
McGarvey also connected housing to workforce participation, noting that housing, child care, health care, and education can affect whether people can enter or remain in the workforce.
Beyond housing, McGarvey and Sanchez discussed other important issues facing the Commonwealth, including workforce shortages and immigration, pressures facing small businesses, health care affordability, tariffs and rising costs, and artificial intelligence.