Louisville isn’t short on people who want to buy a home, it’s short on homes that are actually for sale.

Too many single-family houses are getting pulled off the market and parked in rental portfolios instead.

The Facts

Louisville’s Housing Needs Assessment reports 323,293 occupied housing units and that about 38% of households are renters. It also shows that 29% of renter households live in single-family detached homes.

Put those together, and it suggests something enormous:

Roughly 35,000+ single-family detached houses in Louisville are renter-occupied.

That’s tens of thousands of “starter homes” that could otherwise be part of the for-sale market for first-time buyers—but instead are locked into the rental pipeline.

At the same time, Louisville has seen large-scale acquisition by investment firms. An investigation by Louisville Public Media / KyCIR found the Texas-based firm Amherst owns about 1,330 properties in Louisville, purchased through at least 31 different subsidiaries, and nearly all are single-family homes.

The same investigation includes local real estate leaders describing how drastically for-sale inventory has fallen compared to a decade ago—making every portfolio purchase more impactful in a tight market.

Meanwhile, Louisville’s affordability challenges are real and documented. Louisville Public Media reporting on the Housing Needs Assessment found around 36,000 missing housing units for Louisvillians at 30% of Area Median Income or less.

This system harms Louisville families in two directions:

• If you rent, you can face rules, fees, and rent increases that make it harder to build stability.  
• If you try to buy, you’re competing with investors and portfolios for the same limited supply of houses.

What We're Asking Louisville To Do

We're calling on Mayor Craig Greenberg and the Louisville Metro Council to use the rental registry that already exists — and add a Single-Family Rental License with a substantially higher annual fee for non-owner-occupied single-family rentals.

Due to Kentucky tax laws, we cannot simply raise property taxes without going through the State. However, the licensing system is already in place; Louisville just needs to apply real pressure where it counts: single-family homes being held as rentals instead of sold to residents.

The Core Principles

1. No impact on owner-occupied homes. If you own a home and live in it, you should not pay anything extra.  
2. A license requirement for non-owner-occupied single-family rentals. If a house is used as a rental and is not the owner's primary residence, it must have a license.  
3. A meaningful annual license fee for non-owner-occupied single-family rentals. The fee should be large enough to discourage converting single-family houses into permanent rental inventory—and to make large portfolios pay meaningfully more.  
4. Prevent shell-LLC avoidance by tying compliance to real people. Louisville's rental registry already requires owners—including LLCs, corporations, and trusts—to provide a responsible individual and a responsible managing operator. This infrastructure can be used to enforce a license/fee system against "shell" ownership structures.  
5. Use the money for housing solutions that help residents buy and stay. For example: down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers, support for housing construction, and stronger enforcement.

Why This Is Feasible Now

Louisville already has a rental registry framework and is implementing proactive rental enforcement. Louisville Public Media reported that registration includes fees and the city is using the registry for enforcement and inspections. That means Louisville can build on an existing system—not invent a brand-new one from scratch.

FAQ

Will this affect property taxes for people who own one home and live in it? 
No. This policy is aimed at non-owner-occupied single-family rentals. Owner-occupied homes are not the target.

What exactly are we asking Louisville to do?
Use the rental registry that already exists and add an additional Single-Family Rental License + substantially higher annual fee for non-owner-occupied single-family rentals. Louisville already charges fees for registration today, but they’re too low to change behavior. 

Won’t landlords just pass the fee onto renters?
Some will try — but pass-through is not automatic, and it depends on local market conditions and vacancy risk.  
That’s why this policy should (1) be structured as an owner licensing cost, (2) ban line-item pass-through fees, and (3) invest revenue in housing solutions that reduce renter vulnerability.

The fee should be high enough to change investor behavior — meaning it discourages converting single-family homes into permanent rental inventory — and it must be structured as an owner licensing cost, not a tenant junk fee.

There are some alternatives to a single fee too that would make this policy harder to simply 'pass on' to renters. For instance a significant "hoarding bond" per rental property upon registration, held in trust, and released when the home is sold (and can be drawn against upon violations). Or, a triple-rate property tax on unoccupied properties — even if they're listed for rent.

Can Louisville cap rent increases to stop pass-through?
Not through local rent control on private property — Kentucky law reserves rent control authority to the General Assembly.

But Louisville can enforce licensing, prohibit junk-fee style pass-through charges, and use revenue to expand housing stability and homeownership pathways.

How will Louisville stop shell LLC games?
Louisville’s rental registry already requires ownership/management contact information and requires business entities to register with the Louisville Metro Revenue Commission before rental registration is accepted.

The fee should be enforced using “responsible individual/beneficial owner” aggregation across related entities.

Where should the money go? 
Down payment help for first-time buyers, affordable housing investment, and stronger enforcement against unregistered and unsafe rentals.

Bottom Line

Louisville should be a place where:

• People who work here can buy a starter home,
• Families can build stability and wealth,  
• And single-family homes are treated primarily as homes, not investment inventory.

If you agree, please sign and share this petition.

Let's tell Mayor Craig Greenberg and the Louisville Metro Government: Stop single-family home hoarding—and prioritize homes for the people who live here.