LEXINGTON, Ky. — Mayor Linda Gorton will present recommendations from her Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness at a 10 a.m. news conference Monday, October 12, in the lobby of the Government Center at 200 E. Main St., according to a media advisory from the Mayor’s Office. The advisory said Task Force Chair Diane Fleet and Commissioner of Housing Advocacy and Community Development Charlie Lanter will join the mayor. The advisory did not describe the content of the recommendations.
The city said video of the event will be posted to the LEXTV YouTube channel within 45 minutes after the news conference closes.
The task force was created to address a growing problem. The city’s task force page says Gorton formed the group in response to findings from the June 2025 Emergency Homeless Shelter Study, and it is charged with reviewing the emergency shelter system and offering formal next-step recommendations. Gorton announced the appointment after a $155,000 study by EHI Consultants, a Lexington community planning firm, was presented to the Urban County Council, according to the city’s announcement. In that announcement, Gorton said the county’s homeless population had grown 34% since 2020.
Local outlet LEX 18 reported that the city counted 925 people experiencing homelessness in the 2025 point-in-time count, up from 825 the prior year, and said the group’s first meeting focused on strategies to address that increase. LEX 18 also reported that the task force plans to study successful models in other cities rather than starting from scratch. The first meeting took place Nov. 12, 2025, at the Phoenix Building downtown, according to FOX 56.
Fleet, writing in a community column, said the EHI study found Lexington has close to 500 emergency beds but needs nearly 1,000. Earlier this year, the task force discussed draft proposals that included an expansion at the Versailles Road campus, security concerns and diversion programs, according to WUKY. Lanter has said a central intake point could help people determine where to go for help, a need he said providers have raised for years.
The task force has also sought public comment. A virtual listening session was held in May, and WKYT reported that residents were invited to weigh in on draft recommendations at a public input meeting at the Senior Citizens Center later that summer.
Sources
- LEXTV YouTube channel where the news conference video will be posted
- LFUCG Task Force on Homelessness page
- LFUCG announcement of task force appointment and $155,000 EHI study
- LEX 18 report on task force formation and 2025 homeless count
- FOX 56 report on the task force’s first meeting
- WUKY report on draft task force recommendations and listening session
- WKYT report on public input meeting for draft recommendations
This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-5-5) from a press release emailed to [email protected] by City of Lexington Mayor’s Office, enriched with 2 web searches.
