Homeless and Housing Coalitions Looks To Fight Renters Burden in Bowling Green
By Evan Brooks Bowling Green
PUBLISHED 6:09 PM ET Feb. 24, 2021 PUBLISHED 6:09 PM EST Feb. 24, 2021
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — A lot of renters are struggling when it comes to paying for a place to live. According to Anna Baumann, communications director with the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, as many as 30% of Warren County renters pay more than what they make for rent.
This inconvenience for renters has people like executive director Adrienne Bush of the Homeless and Housing Coalition trying to step up to help renters.
"We know that the affordable housing crisis hit Kentucky as well as many other states way before the pandemic ever started," said Bush "The COVID-19 pandemic really showed us just how fractured our housing supports are."
The Homeless and Housing Coalition along with other groups like Hotel Inc. in Bowling Green are looking for ways to help those in need. One of the biggest trends in eviction filings has included informal housing arrangements.
"We have been advocating for many months since April of 2020 for the federal government to provide broad-based rent relief to households and landlords to make everyone whole," said Bush "We knew that this problem was not about individual renters or individual tenants making poor financial decisions. It's systemic and it's a problem."
Bush says she will continue to help people combat this issue. Tuesday, Rep. Nima Kulkarni (D-Jefferson) filed a bill that would enact the Uniform Residential Landlord-Tenant Act statewide which if passed could even the playing field among parties.