Kentucky Housing Corporation Celebrates Founder Mae Street Kidd, Black Kentuckians Throughout February
FRANKFORT, Kentucky — Throughout February and every day, Kentucky Housing Corporation (KHC) is proud to celebrate the Black Kentuckians who have made our state a better place to live, starting with our founder, state Rep. Mae Street Kidd.
Bold, tenacious, and courageous are just a few of the words we would use to describe the woman who forever changed the landscape of fair housing in Kentucky. She envisioned a world in which all of her constituents had access to homeownership opportunities and lobbied her fellow legislators to get a bill passed creating Kentucky Housing Corporation.
For more than 50 years, KHC has helped more than 120,000 Kentucky individuals and families with affordable home mortgages and down payment assistance as well as homeless programs, rental assistance, and weatherization programs. We work with developers to finance the construction of multifamily projects for low-income renters.
Her legacy lives on.
Every year, KHC presents the Mae Street Kidd Public Service Award at the Kentucky Affordable Housing Conference to someone whose work, advocacy, and life has helped raise awareness about and helped advance affordable housing in Kentucky. The 2024 recipient was Marilyn Harris, who worked for years in Shelbyville and Louisville and at KHC to help people find safe, decent, affordable housing.
Mae Street Kidd was inducted into the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights’ Hall of Fame and her picture hangs in the Gallery of Great Black Kentuckians.
Longtime KHC Board Member Porter G. Peeples (P.G. Peeples) was inducted into the Gallery of Great Black Kentuckians in December 2024. He is the current president of the Lexington-Fayette County Urban League and has been the face of the organization for more than 40 years.
Through his work, P.G. has championed equality and opportunities for all and worked to provide affordable housing and community development in the Fayette County area.
As a corporation, KHC is committed to fair housing practices and providing Kentuckians access to affordable, quality housing solutions and works to fulfill Mae Street Kidd’s dream of ensuring every Kentuckian has access to a pathway to homeownership.
Kentucky Housing Corporation, the state housing finance agency, was created by the 1972 General Assembly to provide affordable housing opportunities. As a self-supporting, public corporation, Kentucky Housing offers down payment assistance loans to assist first-time homebuyers obtain home mortgages, housing production financing, homeownership education/counseling, rental assistance, housing rehabilitation, and supportive housing programs for special needs populations.
