Council to hear presentation on affordable housing needs study

In Tuesday’s Council Work Sessions, Councilmembers will hear a presentation from EHI Consultants on the results of their Affordable Housing Needs Analysis. In October 2023, Council allocated $188,000 to EHI to assess the exact housing needs of Lexington: how many units are needed, what income levels face the largest housing gaps, and more.

In many ways, this report is a follow-up to the 2014 Affordable Housing study done by the firm czb that led to the creation of the city’s Affordable Housing fund. It’s a very meaty, data-heavy presentation that we can’t fully capture in a short newsletter, so we’ll break things down into a few key takeaways.

1.) Lexington’s rent has increased rapidly. The median rent increased 47% from 2019 to 2024, to $1,104. In 2017, the average rent was $839.

• While these rental cost increases have been particularly pronounced in the past few years, it is also a continuation of a long-term trend. As recently as 2,000, nearly 50% of Lexington’s rental units were under $500 per month. By 2012, that number had fallen to 17%

• Now, 54.3% of renters in Lexington are housing cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing.

• 28% of households are extremely cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 50% of their income on housing.

• Lexington’s affordable rent conditions have mostly followed as predicted in the 2014 czb Affordable Housing study.

The most affordable areas of Lexington for non-subsidized housing are concentrated in the north side of Lexington, meaning residents have few geographic options for where to live if they have limited budgets.

Republished from CivicLex.

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