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| State funds are being used for road and utility work at the new high-ground development in Knott County called Chestnut Ridge. (Photo by Zack Hall, Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky) |
By Jenni Glendenning
Institute for Rural Journalism, University of Kentucky
Matt Sawyers has $298 million to spend.
Sawyers, a native of southeastern Kentucky, is commissioner of the state Department for Local Government. That puts him in a position to help make a difference in his home region as he helps his boss, Gov. Andy Beshear, decide where to put the $297.6 million the state has in a federal community development block grant for recovery from the 2022 floods.
Sawyers described it as “a tremendous opportunity for so many generations of eastern Kentuckians that are invested in the success of the region and understand the challenges that have been faced by the collapse of the coal economy, and before that, timber.”
The state has received 10 applications for infrastructure for housing projects to help southeastern Kentucky recover from the 2022 floods. At least two are “high ground” communities above floodplains and one “is very close to being awarded,” Sawyers said.
The first deadline for infrastructure for housing projects was July 1, but the state is still taking applications, and has until February 2030 to spend the money.
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| Matt Sawyers, commissioner, Department for Local Government (Photo by Al Cross) |
The governor is the ultimate decision-maker on recovery grants, but the process involves local governments and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, so “There aren't necessarily a ton of decisions that need to be made,” Sawyers said. “We have the money that was allocated to us by HUD, and we want to spend the money.”
Sawyers said his and Beshear’s “main, only, sole driving purpose is to bring people up out of the floodplain, fulfill the governor's commitment to Eastern Kentucky that we're not going to leave one person behind. This is a long-term recovery process and we're going to get them to safety and put them back at home.”
The state got a head start because it had some money left from the $123 million it got from HUD for recovery from 2021 flooding. Logan Fogle, the DLG’s chief information officer, said most of that was used in western Kentucky, but some is being used in Letcher, Floyd, and Breathitt counties because they were eligible for both 2021 and 2022 funding.
For example, in Prestonsburg, $8 million is being used to build 33 new homes and rehabilitate a vacant home in the New Hope neighborhood.
Breathitt and Letcher counties are two of the five that the federal government has identified as being hurt most by the 2022 floods. The others are Perry, Knott and Pike. At least 80% of the recovery money must go to those five counties.
In Letcher County, $8.7 million in 2022 recovery money will be used to build 29 homes in Seco and Uz, and install infrastructure to support the new homes.
In Jackson, $2.3 million will be used to build eight homes for flood survivors and $1.5 million is allocated for water and sewer projects for future housing projects in Breathitt County.
In Knott County, state funds are being used to build new roads and lay water and sewer pipes in the new high-ground development called Chestnut Ridge.
The other counties eligible for federal disaster-recovery money are Casey, Clay, Cumberland, Floyd, Harlan, Johnson, Lee, Leslie, Lincoln, Magoffin, Martin, Owsley, Powell, Whitley and Wolfe.
Sawyers said the DLG works with local governments and supporting entities to develop their applications, and with HUD and the state Public Protection Cabinet, the Transportation Cabinet, and the Energy and Environment Cabinet, which is taking the lead on much of the planning for high-ground projects.
For decades, people in eastern Kentucky have wanted to see housing development on reclaimed strip mines. The flood and increased public pressure sparked some companies, families and individuals to begin making reclaimed land available for development.
Sawyers said that’s finally happening because of the tremendous investment being made in recovery by government and philanthropy. “We probably have a confluence of events” in developing entire new communities out of the floodplain,” he said.
A few wealthy Kentuckians and non-profit organizations have donated land or money for some of the housing projects. Sawyers says their team is “fully supportive of every resource that anyone can provide to fulfill the governor's promise to get people out of the floodplain, rebuild homes for them, and keep people in eastern Kentucky.”
Sawyers is a Lexington resident, but much of his family still lives in Clay, Laurel, and Perry counties. He said there is a cultural element to where people want to live, and many if not most of those uprooted by the flooding want to stay in their home areas, but on higher ground.
The state’s HUD-approved plan calls for $90 million to be spent on new single-family housing, which includes incentives to developers and assistance to qualified homebuyers; $25 million on owner-occupied rehabilitation or reconstruction, in grants up to $50,000 and up to $50,000 more in forgivable loans; $10 million in incentives to developers and builders for new multifamily housing, $5 million for rehabilitation or reconstruction of rental properties of seven units or less; and $134 million for infrastructure and related activities, including roads, bridges, drainage, publicly owned utility lines, and broadband for housing projects.
Also, $11 million is allocated for purchase of properties, $3 million in housing counseling and legal aid, $3 million in small-business grants, $1.5 million for resilience planning, and $15 million for administration of the program.
Jenni Glendenning, a Ph.D. student at the University of Kentucky, is the David Hawpe Fellow in Appalachian Reporting at UK’s Institute for Rural Journalism. Reach her at Jennifer.Glendenning@uky.edu.
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