$4 million bill would fund Skyview Phase II homes in Perry County

A $4 million request in Rep. Hal Rogers’ federal spending package could push Skyview Phase II forward in Perry County, adding high-ground, flood-resilient homes for East Kentucky families still rebuilding after repeated disaster threats. The plan would expand the Skyview high-ground neighborhood in Hazard through land acquisition for 80 to 100 more residential lots, site development and construction of 40 new homes.

Rogers’ office said the money is part of his fiscal year 2027 Community Project Funding requests and still must clear both the U.S. House and Senate before it becomes law. If approved, the project would deepen one of the county’s most visible housing efforts, aimed at families who need permanent replacement housing that can withstand future flooding and lower utility bills.

Skyview has been moving forward in stages for more than two years. Rogers previously secured a $3 million earmark for the Housing Development Alliance in the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024, signed March 9, 2024, to build new affordable homes for survivors of the July 2022 Eastern Kentucky flood. At the time, Rogers said the work was running into labor shortages, supply shortages and a lack of developed land, while HDA Executive Director Scott McReynolds said the homes would be energy efficient, high quality and long-lasting.

The project’s footprint also grew on the ground. In February 2024, the state said it had acquired 50 acres of donated Ison family land for more than 100 single-family homes. On July 26, 2024, Gov. Andy Beshear, Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman and local officials announced a $12.7 million second phase of road work to widen and improve Skyview Lane, with housing construction expected to begin in late 2024 and road work targeted to finish in fall 2025.

By April 25, 2025, Beshear was back at Skyview with local leaders to help raise the walls on one of five new homes under construction. That day he also announced more than $8 million in additional Perry County funding, including $1.6 million each for Frontier Housing and Family Scholar House to build eight homes apiece at Skyview. HDA later said five affordable model homes at the site were dedicated on Aug. 26, 2025, and described the first phase as including four three-bedroom, two-bath homes and one four-bedroom, two-bath home with net-zero energy features.

Skyview is one of seven high-ground sites under development or completed for flood survivors under Beshear’s New Kentucky Home effort, alongside projects in Letcher, Floyd and Knott counties. The Housing Can’t Wait coalition said it had completed 393 homes since the 2021 and 2022 floods as of January 2025, a reminder that Perry County’s housing recovery is still measured in foundations, frames and the federal dollars needed to finish them.