Public Housing
GENERAL INFORMATION
All applicants for all Housing Authority programs must be at least 18 years of age. When the waiting list is open, applications are taken on-line at the Lexington Housing Authority’s (LHA’s) website – www.lexha.org. Rent is the greater of $150.00 or 30% of adjusted income or 10% of gross income. New leaseholders must pay a security deposit; at certain properties, they are responsible for the payment of deposits required by utility companies, as well as monthly utility payments. Leaseholders may also opt to pay a flat rent that has been established for each property.
The LHA offers a variety of affordable housing opportunities for low and moderate-income families in Lexington. Rent is based on income for our 914 units of conventional/tax credit public housing. The Housing Authority offers housing in nearly every census tract in Lexington. Not only does the LHA strive to address the need for affordable housing, a number of programs and incentives are offered to program participants that promote self-sufficiency.
MOVING TO WORK (MTW)
The LHA is a Moving To Work (MTW) agency. MTW is a HUD demonstration program that allows public housing authorities to design and test ways to achieve three statutory goals – to reduce costs; to give incentives to families with children where the head of household is working or seeking to obtain employment and become economically self-sufficient; and to increase housing choices for low-income families.
HUD announced the LHA’s selection for MTW program admittance in March 2011, and the Housing Authority formally entered the MTW program on November 10, 2011 with the execution of an MTW Agreement between HUD and LHA. Currently, there are 126 housing authorities with Moving to Work status. That includes the 39 original MTW agencies, which have had their MTW agreements extended through the end of 2028 and 87 new MTW agencies who entered the program under MTW expansion, which Congress authorized in the 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act.
PROMOTING SELF-SUFFICIENCY
The majority of the LHA’s housing stock approximately 850 units are designated as self-sufficiency units. Designed to reward working families, these units have features that tend to make them more desirable than general housing stock - they are newer or newly renovated. Self -sufficiency units require that a member of the household work a minimum of 20 hours per week or 37.5 hours depending on the site.