Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg is pitching a $1 million boost for the Home of the Innocents’ Kosair for Kids Complex Care Center, the city’s pediatric skilled nursing facility for medically complex children. The proposed cash is tucked into his FY27 budget package and is intended to help fuel an ongoing campus expansion that would add capacity and let long-term residents stay put as they grow up. The Complex Care Center currently serves children and young adults from across Kentucky who live with severe medical and technological needs.
Greenberg flagged the pledge on July 23 in a post on X
, where he listed the Home of the Innocents funding alongside other family-focused investments. The $1 million also appears in the mayor’s FY27 budget highlights, which lay out proposed capital and operating priorities for the coming year, including money for housing, libraries and nutrition programs, according to
Louisville Metro
.
What the money will fund
The Home’s Kosair for Kids Complex Care Center provides 24/7 short-term, long-term and respite skilled nursing for children and young adults with complex medical needs, including ventilator and tracheostomy care and on-site therapy, according to Home of the Innocents. City dollars would be folded into the Home’s capital plan to expand therapy, activity and residential space, with the goal of giving more room and better amenities to families who travel to Louisville for this level of specialized care.
A long-running expansion
The $1 million would cover only a sliver of a much bigger buildout: a roughly $75 million expansion designed to add about 50 beds, as reported by WDRB. State lawmakers had already committed significant funding, and the Home has been working the phones for private donations and additional financing to finish the project.
Funding partners and timeline
Kosair for Kids and other philanthropic partners have been central to the expansion. Kosair’s grant listings show multi-million dollar commitments to the Complex Care Center, according to Kosair for Kids. Community development lenders have also stepped in to help bridge financing gaps, according to the Opportunity Finance Network. Officials say that this mix of public, private and philanthropic money is what has kept the expansion moving while the usual permitting and construction hurdles play out.
What comes next
The $1 million is still just a line in the mayor’s FY27 recommendation. It will have to survive budget committee scrutiny and win Metro Council approval before a single dollar can be released, as outlined in the mayor’s budget materials at Louisville Metro. If it gets the green light, the city funding would join existing state and private commitments aimed at keeping the project on schedule and bringing new beds online in phases.
Why it matters
For families whose children need round-the-clock care, more beds and stable funding are not abstract policy wins, they are the difference between getting a spot close to home or sitting on a waiting list for months. The Home of the Innocents notes that the expansion is designed so residents can age in place on campus and keep the same care teams, which advocates say is critical for medically fragile young people, according to Home of the Innocents.
