Lexington for Everyone appreciates the thoughtful work that has gone into drafting the Urban Growth Management Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment (ZOTA), a proposed local law that will guide future growth.
There are two key components of the proposal that provide the biggest opportunity to create more housing that is affordable for families, seniors and workers who earn incomes that make most homes in Lexington out of reach.
- Allowing additional density for developments with affordable housing.
- Providing those density bonuses for homes that are affordable up to 120 percent of area median income (AMI). These wage earners are essential workers who educate, protect and care for our residents, but they too are being squeezed out of the market.
Based on the guideline of no more than 30 percent of someone’s income going toward a mortgage, a one-person household at 120 percent of AMI could afford a maximum home price of $200,000. A two-person household could afford to spend $230,000 on a house.
The high cost of land, materials and development means builders simply can’t bring homes to market priced for that amount without a strong public-private partnership. The median home price in Lexington is more than $300,000. It has doubled in the last 10 years, while wage growth has not kept up with that steep increase.
In order to ensure that people of all income levels can afford to live and raise a family here, we believe additional steps must be taken to close the gap between the expense of buying land and building in Lexington with the amount that people can afford. Many of the priorities in this ordinance will help make progress in accomplishing those goals.
Let’s work together to continue striving to make Lexington a place where everyone can call home.
Urge council members to support these the affordable housing and workforce housing components of the proposed ordinance by emailing them at councilmembers-Email@lexingtonky.gov.