Tenant and Landlord advisory boards formed in Lexington

WEKU | By Stu Johnson

https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s362/audio/2023/08/p082123sjrenters.mp3

Newly formed landlord and tenant advisory boards will be offering advice to housing officials within Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government. It’s viewed as progress by one outspoken tenant advocate.

A tenant advocacy group formerly held protests in downtown Lexington, asking for a renters’ bill of rights. Members of the City Council’s General Government and Planning Committee were briefed on the two new panels last week. The agenda item was referred to the committee by Council Member Shayla Lynch.

“In our discussions and research we wanted to keep in mind the goal was to bring the tenant and renter voice to the table in an intentional way regarding the housing issues that our city faces on a day to day basis,” said Lynch.

Emma Anderson with Kentucky Tenants said the hope would be for renters to have more weight, like voting power. But, she said it’s a good first step and appreciates the interaction with the City’s Housing Advocacy and Community Development Office.

“Because if we don’t have stable affordable housing for people of Lexington, there’s no way the City can flourish the way they want it to. So, we think that to be heard, this would be not just discussed on an advisory committee but they would be passing legislation to make it better,” said Anderson.

Anderson said she met with a renter a couple a weeks ago who had not had heat or cooling service for a year. During the presentation, Tiffany Masden with the Housing Office noted that the landlord advisory board has met and some landlords expressed an interest in a better relationship with police.

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Photo by Stu Johnson for WEKU

Republished with permission.