Lexington for Everyone’s 30-by-30 campaign is asking the city to create a housing tracker, conduct a yearly review of vacant land and hire a development liaison in the city government as part of that push, arguing the current process for major developments to get approved takes too long.
“We need to come into some sort of balance where we are having the appropriate regulations, but not a bottleneck, where developments are getting stuck in the process and not being able to move forward,” Lexington for Everyone board member Carla Blanton said.
A study by EHI Consultants says Lexington is 22,000 housing units short, with that number expected to grow. The study says that the shortage has also driven up rent prices in Lexington by 47% from 2019 to 2024.
Blanton said she worries that shortage is pushing people outside of the city.
“It's really impacting people's pocketbooks,” Blanton said. “It's impacting how families and others in Lexington are able to live, and even if they're able to live here.”
Lexington recently approved a new process for land to be added to the city’s urban boundary in order to accommodate more housing.
Lexington’s urban growth is an often-discussed topic in city government as officials balance the city’s housing needs with the preservation of Fayette County’s agricultural areas.
Earlier this month, Lexington passed its new Preservation and Growth Management Program, creating a formalized process for land to be added to the urban service boundary as part of the city’s efforts to accommodate more housing. It would also have city planners conduct a vacant land review every five years.
Lexington also expanded its urban boundary in 2023 by 2,800 acres.
A statement from Lexington spokesperson Susan Straub says the city has made efforts to address housing:
“The city has been at work for several years addressing the need for housing that meets the needs of all income levels. We have built or renovated approximately 4,000 units to help those who need subsidized housing. We have conducted a review of vacant land and public land. We have opened new land to development. We have streamlined the development approval process. We have made it easier and more attractive for developers to build workforce housing. And we have started work on a plan to extend infrastructure to the expansion area. There is more work to do, but we have made progress. We look forward to hearing more from them,” Straub said.
