Donations of land, $4 million boosts efforts to build houses for Eastern Ky. flood victims

Dozens of families displaced by disastrous flooding in Eastern Kentucky last summer will get new homes through an effort announced Tuesday.

The Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky announced that Western Pocahontas Properties deeded 22 acres in Knott County to the foundation for the homes.

Coal executive Joe Craft III and his wife, Kelly, who is running for the Republican nomination for governor, donated $4 million for the project, according to the foundation.

The plan is to build 57 homes on the site, which is on a reclaimed surface mine adjacent to the Sportsplex, a recreation facility.

Partners that include the Housing Development Alliance, which is based in Hazard, and Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian aid organization, will build energy-efficient homes on the lots.

The site is just off KY 80 and has utilities nearby.

The donations, along with other resources, will allow developers to begin construction quickly, said Gerry Roll, executive director of the foundation.

“We’re really excited because this can happen now,” Roll said of the housing development.

The legislature designated $20 million this year for a trust fund to build affordable housing in areas of Eastern Kentucky hit hard by the flooding and in Western Kentucky, where tornadoes in December 2021 killed more than 80 people.

The flooding that happened in Eastern Kentucky on July 28 has been blamed for 44 deaths and caused widespread damage to homes, schools, roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

The Ohio River Valley Institute and the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center calculated that the flooding caused some level of damage to 8,940 homes in 13 counties, with the worst damage in Breathitt, Knott, Perry and Letcher counties.

The nonprofits said in a report that out of those 8,900-plus houses, 542 were destroyed; 4,583 had major damage; 1,186 sustained substantial damage; and 783 had moderate damage. The report was based on information from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

There was a shortage of good-quality, affordable housing in the region before the flood, and the disaster made the housing market even tighter, according to advocates and local officials.

Many people displaced by the flooding are still living in travel trailers provided by the state, and some have converted storage sheds to houses. Others have put mobile homes back on sites where they washed away in July, raising a concern about damage from future flooding.

Advocates have pushed for funding for housing in the region so that people will know they eventually will be able to get a house without having to leave the area.

“Thanks to the generosity of Western Pocahontas and Joe and Kelly Craft, 57 families are gonna have hope,” said Scott McReynolds, head of the Housing Development Alliance. “This is about renewing Knott County.”

Kelly Craft said the development will help keep people in Eastern Kentucky.

“Families will stay so the economy will thrive,” she said.

The foundation said the development in Knott County, called Chestnut Ridge, could be done in a year. Each of the homes will go to someone whose home was destroyed in the flood or received significant damage.

The foundation and developers can combine money from various sources to keep down the mortgage payments on the houses. In addition, Samaritan’s Purse will work with some families to get them into a home with no mortgage, according to a news release.

The state has negotiated with Western Pocahontas, a coal land-holding company, for land at the site, but had not announced a deal so far.

There would be more land at the spot that could be developed.

Roll said the Crafts have been longtime supporters of the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky and have made previous donations for flood relief.

Joe Craft, a native of Perry County, is president and chief executive officer of Alliance Resource Partners, which has coal operations in eastern and Western Kentucky and several other states.

Craft said he had been talking since the flood with companies that own land in Eastern Kentucky, and helped work out the donation from Western Pocahontas.

Craft said he thinks there will be more development announced at the Knott County site and others.

“This is just the beginning,” he said.