Kentucky Housing Corporation Recognizes Outstanding Leaders, Organizations at Annual Conference
FRANKFORT, Kentucky — Humble. Knowledgeable. Caring. Respected. A true servant-leader. That is how both the nominating committee and those in the mortgage lending industry would characterize Darrell Overstreet, the winner of Thursday’s inaugural Darrell Overstreet Homeownership Award at the 2025 Kentucky Affordable Housing Conference (KAHC), held August 20 and 21, 2025, at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington Kentucky.
Overstreet retired July 31 from Stockton Mortgage after 40 years of helping families achieve their dream of homeownership. He was one of Kentucky Housing Corporation’s (KHC) top producing loan originators 15 of the last 20 years, KHC’s top producing loan officer in the state six times, top guaranteed loan originator for USDA Rural Development in Kentucky twice, and Columbia/Adair County Chamber of Commerce’s Outstanding Business Professional Man of the Year in 2011. He served as past president of the Kentucky Manufactured Housing Institute and at-large member of the Kentucky Housing Policy Advisory Committee.
To honor his many accomplishments, KHC created the Darrell Overstreet Homeownership Award, which will recognize a lender or real estate agent whose commitment to connecting homebuyers to affordable housing options has distinguished them in their field. Recipients embrace Darrell’s philosophy of meeting their clients where they are and finding new ways to help people achieve the dream of homeownership.
KHC also honored several individuals and organizations Thursday afternoon at the Housing Innovation Awards who are helping to accelerate housing supply in their communities and to provide affordable housing solutions to Kentuckians.
Mae Street Kidd Public Service Award
Housing Task Force Co-Chairs state Sen. Robby Mills and state Rep. Susan Tyler Witten received the Mae Street Kidd Public Service Award for their work leading the special committee examining the affordability and accessibility of housing in Kentucky. The committee formed in 2024 shortly after KHC released its Kentucky Housing Supply Gap Analysis showing the state needed more than 200,000 more homes to house its current population, and the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce released its statewide Building A Foundation for Growth study showing the housing shortage was threatening future economic growth.
As co-chairs, Mills and Witten have invited housing and policy experts to present, examined issues surrounding the housing supply gap in the state and collected data and stories to frame the discussion. The committee released a final report in November 2024 and reconvened this summer in June. Mills and Witten, along with state Sen. Gerald Neal, sat on a morning plenary panel Thursday, to discuss the creation of the committee, their goals, and the issues they are exploring.
Dorothy J. Williams Award
The Dorothy J. Williams Lifetime Achievement Award honors someone who has made a lasting impact on affordable housing in Kentucky, and for the last 30 years, Teri Farris Knott has done that.
She began her career in 1996 as a loan officer working with low- to moderate-income families. Her first closing was a KHC loan, and she said while other colleagues shied away from KHC programs, she embraced them, knowing they could offer many of her clients an alternative pathway to homeownership.
As an affordable housing specialist, fluent in the mortgage credit certificate (MCC) program, Teri has empowered more than 600 families to achieve their dream of owning their first home. She has won KHC’s Top MCC Loan Officer award several years in a row and placed among the top loan originators 18 out of 20 years, which enabled her corporation, Stockton Mortgage, to win the Top Producing Lender, award each year.
“Her specialty lies in ensuring each borrower is matched with the best product for their financial situation,” said Jaime Rice, KHC’s managing director of single family programs, of Teri as she was introducing the award. “Teri’s impact reaches far beyond the application process—she is known for her hands-on approach, attention to detail, and genuine care for the people she serves.”
F. Lynn Luallen Innovation Award
In honor of KHC’s 50th anniversary, the corporation created the F. Lynn Luallen Innovation Award in 2022 to honor partners who exemplified the imaginative spirit of KHC’s longest serving executive director. His vision and creativity changed the scope of the organization and enhanced the affordable housing options Kentuckians could access.
The recipients in 2025 were the constellation of partners who created Home for All: Northern Kentucky Housing Strategies after discovering their region was losing economic development opportunities and residents due to a lack of affordable housing. More than 90 partners worked together to create a menu of options that could serve as a guide for communities looking to accelerate housing production or close housing gaps across income levels.
The project is a model for not only the 40 northern Kentucky communities it serves but for all of Kentucky. Tara Johnson-Noem from the Northern Kentucky Area Development District and Wonda Winkler from the Brighton Center and Brighton Properties spoke twice at the conference about the initiative and how they were able to coordinate the effort and arrive at the final report.
Distinguished Service Award
Lastly, KHC honored the KCEOC Community Action Partnership in Eastern Kentucky for distinguished service in homeless services and weatherization. They have weatherized more than 140 units in 12 counties, serve the area of Kentucky with the highest homeless rate and still have built six homes with HOME funding, repaired 10 homes with Affordable Housing Trust Fund dollars, served 330 households with emergency rental assistance and started emergency shelter services in Whitley County.
“This awardee goes out of its way to research and resolve issues in their communities,” said Wendy Smith, deputy executive director of housing programs, of KCEOC as she was introducing the award. “They see a need in the state, and they pool their resources to address it. They implement an impressive range of programs for their service area—senior centers, summer food service, homelessness programs, career and job services, weatherization, and early childhood development.”
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.
