Lexington, partners make record investments in affordable housing, homelessness prevention

The need for quality affordable housing for everyone echoes across Fayette County as our community, like most others around the country, feels the impact of rising rents, increasing home prices, rising interest rates, and low housing inventory.

These challenges hit especially hard for those whose income was disrupted by the pandemic, or the many thousands of households that spend more than 30 percent of the household income on housing -— a widely-accepted definition of affordable.

This is why our city and partners like the Lexington-Fayette Housing Authority have poured unprecedented resources into protecting and expanding access to housing. Beginning in January 2021, the city opened the federally funded Housing Stabilization Program. With the help of Community Action Council and other non-profit partners, the program has distributed $32.5 million in rent and utility payments on behalf of over 4,500 tenants to more than 850 landlords.

As a result, while eviction filings may have returned to pre-pandemic levels, the number of judgments issued in which people lose their homes remains lower than before the pandemic. So far, one of every 14 renters in Fayette County has been assisted through this program. For those who still slip through the crack, the program pays some relocation expenses, such as a security deposit and the first few months’ rent, to get tenants back on their feet in a new unit.

But we also need additional affordable units. Since 2014, the Affordable Housing Fund has been allocated $20.5 million from local tax receipts for the development and preservation of affordable housing. Earlier this year, the Mayor and Urban County Council appropriated $10 million from the City’s federal American Rescue Plan Act funds for additional support. Along with annual loan receipts, Lexington has allocated $24.2 million for affordable housing to create or preserve 2,929 units – a number that includes 884 units currently under construction and another 155 being rehabbed.

Perhaps just as important, those local dollars have leveraged $352 million from the public and private sectors, including Lexington’s financial institutions and local developers. These units house working people throughout our community, as well as those in need of permanent supportive housing, such as our seniors, survivors of domestic violence, those recovering from substance addiction, the medically vulnerable, and those with severe mental illnesses.

We are investing in proven programs and developing new solutions that reach those experiencing homelessness. Since March 2020, LFUCG has allocated approximately $2.6 million to programs working toward ending homelessness; $7.1 million on programs that manage existing homelessness, such as shelters; and millions more on programs that prevent homelessness, including the previously described Housing Stabilization Program. This summer, the city has funded two additional projects – a Transitional Housing Pilot Project at Community Action Council and a Transition in Place program at Mountain Comprehensive Care. Together, these ARPA-funded programs will help hundreds more households exit or avoid life on the streets.

In July, the city hired Caitlyn Dixon as its first-ever Housing Advocate. This new position helps people navigate the web of government offices and assistance programs to find solutions for various housing challenges. Just finding a place to rent can be difficult for someone with a previous eviction or criminal history. Others need help identifying a landlord who will accept their Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8). A Housing Advocate isn’t the solution to every problem, but in a short time she has already helped dozens of callers find answers or get connected to the help they need.

This community is fortunate to have strong organizations like the Lexington-Fayette Housing Authority, for- profit and non-profit developers, and service providers that collaborate with the city and are committed to addressing the housing needs of its citizens. The Housing Authority, for example, manages 3,483 Housing Choice and Project Base rent vouchers and 914 units of public income-based housing. Still, there are more than 700 households on the voucher waiting list and 2,554 on the public housing waiting list. So we enlist additional partners like Community Action Council, Urban League, Habitat for Humanity, Hope Center, The Salvation Army, GreenHouse17, Arbor Youth Services, New Beginnings and so many more.

The financial and development community is another strong supporter of these efforts. Kentucky Housing Corporation and local banks help finance these properties. And the city itself isn’t in the business of acquiring property and building or rehabbing housing units. We rely on partners like AU Associates and Winterwood who develop and manage quality properties using public affordable housing dollars.

We will continue to enhance these partnerships through the office of Housing Advocacy and Community Development. The work is necessary and worthwhile because everyone deserves a safe, decent, affordable place to call home.

Charlie Lanter is the Lexington Commissioner, Housing Advocacy & Community Development; Rick McQuady is Lexington Affordable Housing Manager; and Austin Simms is Executive Director, Lexington-Fayette Urban County Housing Authority.