One housing organization doubling production to help meet eastern Kentucky flood victim needs
Republished from WEKU.
When asked about the overall housing needs in eastern Kentucky, you might find a variety of opinions. But, where consensus is usually found is the realization that the flood in the summer of 2022 significantly increased the need.
The sounds of a house under construction ring out in the Blue Sky Subdivision located on a reclaimed mining site. It is one of the many residential projects undertaken by Housing Development Alliance, a non-profit based in Hazard. HDA Development and Communications Director Mindy Miller admits repairs made to homes soon after the highly destructive flood in July of 22 create a dilemma.
“Their home has been almost destroyed. They’ll have you know people who mean well who came in soon after the flood and helped repair that home. Be it a church group or whatever, that meant well. But, the problem is that house is sitting in an area where they are not safe, where it’s gonna flood again. But, a lot of folks just don’t want to leave their home. You can understand that,” said Miller.
Stu Johnson
And Miller said that prompts the question, ‘what do we do in a situation like that?’
One possibility is to make a move, but not terribly far away.
“If you want to stay close to where you grew up or the holler that you grew up in. If you can find a piece of land that meets our requirements, that’s not somewhere that will put you in harm’s way, then we can build there,” said Miller.
Since that historic flood two years ago, Miller said Housing Development Alliance has doubled its production, serving flood survivors and those with low-income in need of a home. 30 homes have been built for flood survivors and Miller said another 12 are in construction while rehab has occurred at 92 flood survivors’ homes.
One of the HDA carpenters is Austin Breeding. He’s always enjoyed this type of work.
“Through Jimmy, my father-in-law, I got in with him. He got me on here, cause I just like to do carpentry work. I’ve done it ever since I was little. My papa learned me how to do it,” said Breeding.
The flood impacted Breeding in a number of ways. He lost a friend to the flood. His native Knott County experienced the greatest loss of human life with 22 flood fatalities. And Breeding said it took a double toll on his family.
“I got flooded twice. I lived in Prestonsburg then. Got flooded, knocked all the power out, and destroyed everything. I then I was doing storm work with Nelson Tree Service then. And then I stayed at my mom’s so I could shower and we got flooded again that night and it destroyed everything we had then,” said Breeding.
Jimmy Benton is a finish carpenter with HDA and has done this type of work for more than 25 years. With the realization of a greater need for new housing comes additional resources in the form of crew members.
“They’ve hired quite a few more people. They’ve got more rehab crews now. They had two. Now they’ve got three crews now, and then they’ve got two finish crews now. And they just had one,” said Benton.
In addition to the hired workers with HDA, the Hazard organization also relies on volunteer help at work sites.
HDA’s Mindy Miller noted state dollars are helping further construction. She added the Chestnut Ridge site in Knott County is suitable for many houses.
“We’re gonna start out building, I think 17 and then the option will be to build more later on. We’re not the only builder that’s gonna be there. You know, they’re gonna have Samaritan Purse, Appalachia Service Project, Homes Inc from Whitesburg. So, we’re all gonna but up there building together,” said Miller.
Miller said the Skyview site near Hazard is another place to build a lot of homes. She said it was difficult to find land to build on in Breathitt County, partly because some of it is owned by coal companies who don’t want to relinquish mineral rights. The construction timeline is hard to predict, but Miller said this is year three with probably at least another two years to go.
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Originally published by WEKU.
Republished with permission.
