OUR HISTORY

• • Public housing is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD).

  • Owned and operated by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Housing Authority.

  • In 1937 the intention of public housing was to provide temporary housing for middle class families badly hit by the depression. As is true in the case of so many government programs, though, public housing outlived the depression, several wars and even the postwar building boom.

  • Lexington's first 286 public housing units opened in 1937 at Bluegrass-Aspendale. During this time America's racial segregation policy was also reflected in public housing. The Housing Authority built Aspendale for black residents and Bluegrass for white, separated by a barbed wire fence. In the late 1960s and 1970s integration forced an end to segregation in public housing and the barbed-wire fence came down.

  • The Lexington Housing Authority’s housing stock grew over the decades with Bluegrass-Aspendale eventually growing to 963 units and the addition of Lexington’s second largest public housing site – Charlotte Court. Initially, 206 units were built at Charlotte Court and opened in 1941, eventually growing to 356 units. Over the years the agency began to construct smaller developments. The Housing Authority recognized the advantages of constructing smaller communities on scattered-sites in suburban neighborhoods.

  • Bluegrass-Aspendale, Lexington’s oldest and largest public housing site opened in 1937 (963 units); November 2002 – 279 units demolished at Bluegrass and Aspendale Circles; final demolition began October 2006.

  • Charlotte Court built in 1946 (350 units); demolished in 1999; replaced by The Arbors subdivision (single-family home-ownership community).

  • Smaller scattered public housing sites emerged in the 1980s making larger barrack-style sites obsolete.

  • With the advent of HOPE VI, public housing is making significant changes for the better for communities all over the country. Lexington’s first public housing developments have been eliminated. HOPE VI is a program of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This federal program was created in 1992 as a result of recommendations from the National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing who was charged with developing a plan to eradicate the nation’s worst public housing stock.

  • Lexington has received two HOPE VI grants including $19 million for the successfully completed Charlotte Court Revitalization and $20 million for the current revitalization of Bluegrass-Aspendale.