Louisville lawmakers and city staff spent years creating two ordinances aimed at making rental housing safer for tenants. Both have been eroded in a matter of weeks.
Thursday night, Louisville Metro Council voted to repeal and rewrite Louisville's lead protections and eliminate some of Louisville's rental registry regulations — submitting to pressure from Republicans in Kentucky's state legislature who threatened to dismantle the regulations unless local lawmakers made significant changes.
House Bill 173, sponsored by Rep. Ryan Dotson, R-Winchester, would prohibit any local government in Kentucky from adopting or enforcing a “policy that creates or maintains a registry of landlords or residential rental properties for any purpose." The bill specifically challenges Louisville's regulations on lead hazards in rental properties and the city's rental registry.
Despite impassioned and pointed speeches from advocates, lobbyists and fellow council members, Piagentini's rewrite of Louisville's lead hazard protections passed 17-8. His ordinance will replace more stringent regulations approved unanimously by the council in 2022.
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