You don't have to spend long talking with millennials and younger buyers in the market for a home before the topic of prohibitive cost comes up. And Kate Shanks with the Kentucky Chamber says those complaints are borne out by the data. This week, she showed lawmakers a graph comparing the median home price in areas of the state relative to the median income.
Back in the 90s, she said, "You were looking at around two times the household income for the average price of a home. That has now, in some areas, almost doubled or in some cases has doubled, and you can see it's now upwards of four, even five times the household income."
Lexington Mayor Linda Gordon testified in front of the same panel about a month ago. While she stopped short of providing an estimate of the number of housing units needed to fill the affordability gap in Lexington, she pointed to studies currently underway looking at initiatives ranging from subsidized housing to programs geared toward first-time home buyers.
"Well, we do have a need, but we like to know what our need is, and we continue to build housing while we're doing this study," she added.
One lawmaker raised the idea of incorporating Lexington's housing needs into things like the state's road plan, which won't be revisited for another two years. Gorton indicated any help would be welcome, while cautioning that expanding housing into new areas is particularly expensive because of the added cost of building new infrastructure.
