Covington has set a ribbon-cutting at 10 a.m. on Nov. 10 for the first two completed homes in its Pleasant Street workforce housing project, marking the debut of three-bedroom, three-bathroom houses built specifically for income-qualified buyers in the Eastside neighborhood. The homes sit at 304 and 308 Pleasant Street, each spanning about 1,560 square feet.
According to the Northern Kentucky Tribune, the newly constructed homes are ready to be marketed and are expected to sell for between $250,000 and $260,000. City officials describe them as a milestone in Covington's effort to expand homeownership opportunities for working households being priced out of the broader market. Eligible buyers must earn no more than 80 percent of the area median income, a threshold defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, per the same report.
The homes were not built on-site in the traditional sense. WVXU reported that the modular structures were built in a warehouse in Vandalia, Ohio, by manufacturer Unibilt Industries before being delivered to Pleasant Street and placed on permanent foundations in August. The project is a partnership between the City of Covington and Neighborhood Investment Partners, which Link NKY describes as the city's nonprofit housing subsidiary.
Help With the Down Payment
Buyers who qualify may also be eligible for a low-interest, forgivable loan from the Northern Kentucky HOME Consortium to help cover down-payment and closing costs, according to Link NKY. That financial backstop is meant to make the stated prices more attainable for working families who have been squeezed out of homeownership elsewhere in Northern Kentucky.
The homes are priced between $250,000 and $260,000. Brandon Holmes of Covington Community Development put it in even more everyday terms, telling the station that someone should be able to buy one of these homes for close to what they would otherwise pay in rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Covington.
How Many Homes Are Actually Planned
There is a discrepancy in how many total homes the project will ultimately bring to the 300 block of Pleasant Street. The Northern Kentucky Tribune reported the project is expected to bring 19 new homes to the block, while WCPO described the city as installing the first two of 15 planned modular homes. The available reporting does not clarify whether those figures reflect different project phases or a later revision in scope.
What is confirmed is a second phase: five more homes planned for vacant lots at 316-318, 326, 328 and 338 Pleasant Street, according to Link NKY's reporting from September. That phase was planned for later in 2026.
A Regional Shortage Driving the Push
The project arrives against a backdrop of a worsening housing gap across Northern Kentucky. A 2024 Kentucky Housing Corporation estimate cited by WCPO found Kenton, Campbell and Boone counties combined were 25,000 housing units short of meeting workforce needs. WVXU reported separately that the same corporation found Kenton County alone needed 9,157 more units for sale or rent to meet 2024 demand, and projected that gap would widen by 2029.
A Kenton County Planning Commission report cited by WVXU predicted Covington specifically would face a housing gap of 891 units by 2028. Link NKY also cited a 2025 regional housing report showing a teacher earning the median annual income of $43,740 could afford only 26 percent of rental housing and 16 percent of for-sale housing in the region — numbers that underscore why Covington established an affordable-housing committee in May 2025 to study the problem and weigh potential uses for vacant lots and city-owned properties.
