At the October meeting for the Interim Joint Committee on Judiciary, Representative Susan Witten presented on legislation that she filed during the 2025 legislative session aimed at making common sense changes to Kentucky’s eviction process to reduce the long-term, harmful effects on kids and families. 

“As the Housing Taskforce Co-Chair, the past two years we have worked really hard to try to identify state level solutions to Kentucky’s housing crisis,” Representative Witten stated during her remarks to the committee. “While most of the solutions that we have identified address the housing on the supply side, there are other solutions that we have identified that can help eliminate unnecessary roadblocks for Kentuckians to have access to affordable housing. One such bill is the [provisions of] HB 534.”

Key provisions of this legislation include:

  • Automatic expungement of dismissed evictions
  • Prohibit minors from being named on eviction records

In Kentucky, an eviction record is created the moment a landlord files a claim for eviction with the court. Even if the case is dismissed or doesn’t result in an eviction, the tenant has a mark on their housing record, which can be viewed by any prospective landlord when applying for future housing. Families with an eviction record, even if the case is dismissed, often encounter long-term barriers to securing stable housing. 

Representative Witten’s legislation seeks to remove this barrier that many Kentuckians face when trying to secure housing by automatically expunging dismissed cases. She emphasized that this priority: “increases access to safe, affordable housing while it explicitly maintains the property rights of the landlord.”

This legislation also seeks to protect minors, who cannot legally sign leases but who are sometimes named on eviction filings, from having their names listed on the eviction record. Witten explained that Kentucky has the opportunity to follow the lead of states like Ohio and protect minors from experiencing lasting damage to their housing record due to actions beyond their control. 

Kentucky Youth Advocates is encouraged to see this Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children priority  that advocates and young people from the Housing Policy Ambassadors have championed for several years gaining traction in the General Assembly, and we are hopeful that these impactful changes to the eviction process will be passed in 2026. 

The full recording of the committee meeting can be found here. 

If you’re interested in learning more about eviction and its impact on your community, please join KYA for our upcoming webinar – Kentucky Eviction Data Dashboard: Turning Insight Into Action on Tuesday, November 4th at 12pm ET. 

We will be launching our new interactive data tool, which visualizes eviction filings and trends across all 120 Kentucky counties from 2022-2024. During the webinar, we’ll demonstrate key  features of the platform and share opportunities to advocate for policy change during the 2026 legislative session.

If you missed the webinar, view the recording.