Lexington for Everyone today announced recommended solutions to the housing crisis in Fayette County. The organization expressed appreciation that LFUCG has funded a development liaison position, which will help expedite the planning process and, in turn, help reduce the time and expense of building homes in Lexington.
In addition to the newly created position, the 30by30 Campaign’s Every Day We Delay advocates prioritizing the following solutions:
- Establish a housing goal and tracker: Research demonstrates that writing down goals increases the likelihood for success by more than 40 percent. That’s why Lexington for Everyone urges the city to set a goal for the number of new homes that will be built by 2030 and create an online tracker for accountability and transparency so the public can see what progress is being made.
Cities such as Madison, Wisconsin, have set a goal of 15,000 new homes and created an online housing tracker to hold themselves accountable. We should, too.
- Cut red tape: The city’s own study of the planning process, which is just sitting on a shelf and cost taxpayers $135,000, shows that it takes more than twice as long to get through the development process here than the national average. For major subdivision plans, it’s even worse. It takes 523 days for approval here vs. 45 days in our peer city of Greenville, S.C.
Since that time, Lexington has added or is contemplating adding more than 530 pages of additional regulations.
- Analyze vacant/underutilized/corridor land opportunities: In addition to expediting the development process, the development liaison should begin analyzing opportunities for infill and redevelopment, especially on underutilized land on the corridors and create connections to facilitate that redevelopment.
- Create/incentivize public-private partnerships for workforce housing: Our essential workers – teachers, public safety officers, health and child-care workers – can’t afford to live here. There are few resources to help build homes for middle-income families. We need to be creative and collaborative to ensure that people who serve our community and want to live here are able to do so.
- Expedite infrastructure to the expansion area for new housing units.
- Study the long-term capacity of the sewer system to ensure we are planning properly for the future.
“The Transylvania Transformative Housing Project and the senior living apartments at Woodland Christian Church are proof of what can happen when we collaborate and take a fresh look at what is possible,” said Ray Daniels, chair of Lexington for Everyone. “Let’s apply that vision to expand our efforts around making housing more affordable at all ages and stages of life so Lexington truly will be for everyone.”
“The more emphasis we put on the need for more housing, the more we will accomplish. But the longer we wait, the more difficult it will be to succeed. We urge all policymakers and voters to prioritize housing.”
Here are just some of the reasons why housing must be a priority:
- The median new home price in Lexington is $378,000, but 71% can’t afford it.
- For every additional $1,000 increase in the cost of a new home, 286 people are being priced out of the homebuying market.
- For households earning $75,000, only 21% of the homes sold in Fayette County in 2025 were attainable.
- Lexington ranked seventh highest in rent increases in the country in 2022.
- It had a higher percentage of rent increases than New York City in 2023.
In addition, Every Day We Delay has created the Housing Gap Counter that updates how many housing units Lexington is behind each day based on statistics by the Kentucky Housing Corporation and the city-commissioned study by EHI. Lexington currently needs more than 25,250 homes. You can check out the Housing Gap Counter here.
“We encourage everyone – especially elected and appointed officials – to check out the housing clock so the crisis remains top of mind as we work together to solve this challenging issue. We also urge voters to educate themselves on where candidates stand on the issue.”
Lexington residents can learn more and sign up to join Lexington For Everyone’s 30by30 Campaign at www.lexingtonforeveryone.com. They also can email council members and ask them to support these common-sense, balanced proposals by looking up individual council members here or emailing all council members at CouncilMembers-Email@lexingtonky.gov.