Rowan County leaders working to solve housing crisis affecting the whole community

Rowan County is facing a housing crisis that is rippling across its workforce, schools and local economy, with rising rents and a shortage of affordable homes pushing workers to live outside the county.

Jason Slone, president of the Morehead-Rowan Chamber of Commerce, said the effects touch every part of community life.

“Housing is important it affects all aspects on what we do as a community,” Slone said.

Slone said the jobs exist in Rowan County, but the workers filling them are not living there.

“We have seen more people commuting in Rowan County since the pandemic then what we did in the pandemic and that number is roughly 60 percent,” he said.

Slone said rising costs are making the problem worse, with the consequences extending into the classroom. According to Slone, when workers live outside Rowan County, the county’s schools lose out on property tax revenue that would otherwise support them.

“Property taxes help support our schools, so when you see 10 workers in our labor pool 6 of them are coming outside of the county that could be Bath or Montgomery County that means those investments are not here,” Slone said.

Annette Hines, who grew up in Rowan County and works for Kentucky Tenants, said many residents are already struggling to keep up with rent.

“Rent in Morehead is 12 to 14 hundred dollars,” Hines said.

The data reflects the strain. In the first 3 months of 2026, 29 Rowan County families faced eviction. Statewide, that number topped 8,300, according to the Legal Services Corporation’s Civil Court Data Initiative.

Hines said a community land trust could offer a path forward — a model in which the community owns and controls land democratically.

“Basically the community buys the land and owns and controls it in a democratic fashion,” Hines said.

She said the approach could also deliver long-term economic benefits.

“I think it will be important with the economics and the way housing prices are increasing. It would make more affordable for the next 30 years,” Hines said.

Slone said no single solution will be enough to resolve the crisis.

“It takes a lot of people a hand on the rope together and making a lot of concessions and understanding on where we need to be,” Slone said.

Hines a community land trust visioning event at the Rowan County Arts Center scheduled for May 16. It’s to get thoughts from the public about how they feel about the idea of a community land trust.