2019-12-12-CPC-NEEDS.rpt - Laserfiche WebLink

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The effort in Lexington "to maintain a range of affordability" is increasingly difficult. The current median sale price for a single family home in Lexington is approximately $1,180,000 affordable only to families making at least$285,000/year(233% of the area median income for a family of 5). Current monthly market-rate rents in Lexington average approximately $2,600 for a 2-bedroom apartment, affordable only to families making at least$104,000/year(102% of the area median income for a family of 3). The gradual replacement of smaller homes with larger, more expensive homes continues. Escalation of the cost of more modest residences and properties, due in some measure to developers' willingness to pay high prices for teardown sites, has limited LexHAB's ability to secure and rehabilitate such residences for affordable housing. In 2016 the Lexington Housing Authority completed the construction of four new ADA apartments at Greeley Village; this new construction would not have been possible without CPA funding. As Caileen Foley, the Executive Director of the Lexington Housing Authority said, " Housing Authorities have to be very creative to build more housing." One way to measure the need for more affordable and low-income housing in Lexington is to look at the waiting lists for LHA properties. In mid-2019, there were 88 families on the wait list for 17 Federal (HUD) homes and 159 individuals on the waiting list for 17 Federal (HUD) one- bedroom units. The state maintaines a centeralized waiting list for all state public housing units. Of the thousands of people on that list, 534 applicants indicated that Lexington was their first choice. Data from LexHAB shows a similar trend. LexHAB maintains two waitings lists for the properties in their portfolio, the "lottery list", and the "direct application list." In mid-2019, the numbers for the wait lists were as follows; Lottery Direct One Bedroom 69 6 Two Bedroom 50 9 Three Bedroom 60 15 Four Bedroom 19 3 Five Bedroom 2 0 In the Spring of 2019, Metro West Collaborative Development(a community development corporation) held a lottery at Lexington Town Hall for pre-qualified applicants to be placed on a general wait list for future vacancies at LexHAB properties. 136 applicants entered the lottery. Another lottery for 3 "first time homebuyer opportunity"units on Jefferson Drive drew 87 applications. This was the largest response the Regional Housing Services Office has seen in over 200 lotteries. THE ROLE OF THE COMMUNITY PRESERVATION ACT 9