City staff outline housing study, inspection limits and local resources at Lexington HRC meeting

Tammy Absher, director of the City of Lexington’s Office of Business and Community Development, and Rebecca Hart, the city’s community development planner, briefed the Human Relations Commission on housing initiatives, a planned local housing study, and limits on municipal inspection and enforcement.

The nut of the discussion: the city will commission a housing study as the first chapter of a broader comprehensive plan to document current housing stock, identify gaps in affordable housing and recommend actions. Staff and the commission discussed existing local programs (weatherization and home-repair referrals through regional and nonprofit partners), the county’s homelessness task force and limits imposed by state law on municipal inspections.

What staff said

- Housing study and data sources: Absher said the city will work with the Piedmont Triad Regional Council (PTRC) to complete a housing study that will compile market data, HUD and census information to show what Lexington has and what it needs. Rebecca Hart noted that many HUD and Census datasets are compiled at the county level for smaller jurisdictions and that the city study will be needed to produce Lexington-specific detail.

- Existing programs and partners: Staff distributed resource pamphlets (including Spanish-language versions) from DC Connect and Home Solutions — a local community development corporation — and identified weatherization and home repair programs available through regional partners and nonprofits.

- Homelessness coordination: Absher said Davidson County’s homelessness task force has increased activity, meets monthly (the fourth Thursday) and includes about 20 agencies; a subcommittee assembled community resources and pamphlets used in the point-in-time count.

- Inspection authority and limits: Absher explained how local enforcement works and its limits: “The city's only legal recourse is to close the house and prohibit people from going in,” she said, describing the narrow set of remedies available when a dwelling fails minimum housing standards. Absher noted that a 2015 change in state law restricted routine pre-occupancy inspections the city once conducted; the city now primarily gains inspection access through utility-connection procedures and reconnection inspections performed on behalf of utilities. She said inspectors will work with landlords to achieve repairs when possible, but the city’s legal options are limited if a property owner declines to repair a unit.

- Housing choice vouchers and rent pricing: Staff explained that Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) payments and allowable rents are governed by HUD-based calculations (the housing authority uses HUD percentile-based payment standards) and that landlords can still increase rent, which sometimes prices units outside the voucher limits.

- Housing supply trends: Absher said the city handled around 200 building permits for new housing units in 2019 and is now processing many more (on the order of 1,500), underscoring a rapid increase in new construction and the need to assess what type of housing the city should encourage.

Why it matters

The housing study will give Lexington-specific data that staff and partner agencies can use to target repairs, weatherization and affordable-housing initiatives and to coordinate assistance for tenants facing unsafe conditions or rent pressures. The city’s limited legal authority on enforcement — and reliance on utility-connection inspections — means many tenant-landlord issues will continue to require coordination among the city, nonprofit partners and the housing authority.

Follow-up and next steps

- Staff said the housing study will be the basis for recommendations on what housing types Lexington should encourage and which gaps to prioritize.

- Rebecca Hart said she will provide staff contacts and resource pamphlets to commissioners; Absher said staff will return to the commission with study updates and potential roles for the commission to play in coordinating housing assistance.

Sources: Tammy Absher, Director, City of Lexington Office of Business and Community Development; Rebecca Hart, Community Development Planner; meeting transcript, Lexington Human Relations Commission, April 7, 2025.