Every safe, affordable home creates new possibilities – not just for one family, but for an entire community.
For more than 30 years, the Housing Development Alliance (HDA) has helped families across Breathitt, Knott, Leslie, and Perry counties build stronger futures through homeownership, home repair, workforce development, and community investment.
Today, we’re building more homes than ever before in our history. Together with our supporters, volunteers, and partners, we’re building what’s next for Eastern Kentucky.
We help families prepare for and achieve homeownership through new, energy-efficient homes built to last. Most of our homes serve income-qualified households, and we also build a limited number of homes for middle-income families – including those who earn too much for traditional assistance but still struggle to find quality, affordable housing in our region. Every family works with us through housing counseling and financial preparation before purchasing a home designed for long-term stability.
From critical repairs to accessibility upgrades, our skilled crews help homeowners make essential improvements that protect health, safety, and longevity – at a cost families can afford. A leaking roof, failing floors, unsafe wiring, or a missing ramp can put a home and the people in it at real risk. For many families, especially older adults and people with disabilities, these repairs are the difference between staying put and having to leave the place they’ve built their lives around. We combine professional crews with volunteer labor and a range of funding sources to keep costs low and quality high.
We offer a limited number of affordable single-family rental homes and apartments for low-income and very low-income households, including single-room apartments for individuals with very low or no income. HDA does not provide emergency housing or immediate shelter.
After repeated flood disasters, our focus is on lasting recovery – repairing homes outside flood zones and building new homes on higher ground so families can move forward with confidence.
Build With Us! Groups from across the country partner with HDA to support affordable housing through hands-on volunteer experiences.
In 2026, we’re expanding our impact through the Ultimate House Raising Challenge, inviting volunteer teams to play a meaningful role in building homes that will serve families for generations.
Our paid, on-the-job construction training program gives people in substance use recovery real work experience, industry credentials, and a genuine path to long-term employment. Our Hope Building crews frame and finish homes across our region – including flood recovery homes and the middle-income homes we build for families who fall outside traditional assistance. Trainees earn a paycheck while building the homes that strengthen our communities.
We've always believed that a safe home and a stable financial footing are two halves of the same story.
That belief is why HDA created Redbud Financial Alternatives - and why watching it grow into an independent, certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) has been one of our proudest moments.
Today Redbud stands on its own, with its own leadership, staff, and mission. It offers fair, affordable loans, debt consolidation, credit building, and one-on-one financial coaching to families across Breathitt, Knott, Leslie, Perry, and surrounding counties - work that has helped hundreds of East Kentuckians escape predatory debt and move toward their goals.
Many of the families who walk through our door are also working with Redbud, strengthening their credit and reducing debt on the road to a home of their own. Independence hasn't changed that. Redbud remains our closest partner, and we're still building toward the same future for the same community.
