The city's own estimates show Lexington needs more than 22,000 housing units, across all types, to meet its overall need. The number jumps to 30,000 if you look ahead to 2030.
Carla Blanton with Lexington for Everyone tells WKYT one issue slowing down the building process is the timeline for zoning and planning.
“One of the problems we see is that it takes about 523 days for plans to go through the development process here in Lexington," she said. "You go to a peer city like Greenville, South Carolina, it takes about 40 days."
Down the road in Frankfort, lawmakers are prepping for a legislative session where action on housing is anticipated — with a housing task force outlining a number of suggestions, many tied to easing regulations.
"We've got to have good laws, local or state laws, whichever one they might be, to help government do what it needs to do but yet get out of the way of developers and encourage development," panel chair Sen. Robbie Mills said.
While the need for more affordable housing appears relatively uncontroversial, there's likely to be debate over how much deregulation is too much. In the final meeting of the Kentucky housing task force this year, Rep. Joshua Watkins cautioned against changes that could lead to less sustainable housing.
"Some of the more sustainable building practices are relieving energy costs for our constituents, so I just want to caution that, while it may make sense in the short term to place a moratorium on building codes, I am really concerned about the affordability of maintaining the home," he said.
The push to build comes as more Lexington residents are priced out and homelessness is rising across the state.