Dear Mayor Gorton and members of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council,

On August 24, mass evictions are starting in Lexington. That day, 51 people have an eviction hearing; that week, 159 do. COVID-19 caused thousands of Lexingtonians to lose their income. Many of them losing their homes is the predictable result of the federal and state governments failing to cancel rent and mortgages, like so many Kentuckians called on Governor Beshear to do, joining a national movement of tenants defending their human right to housing.

Federal, state, and local government have failed to act boldly enough to meet the moment. But, Mayor Gorton and members of the Urban County Council, you have the power to create a housing system in Lexington that ensures that anyone who is evicted can find safe, accessible, permanently affordable, and sustainable housing, and you have the power to significantly reduce the number of evictions in Lexington. We call on you to fully fund the Affordable Housing Fund to end homelessness and build social housing, enact just rental assistance, and ban sweeps of homeless encampments. Specifically, we demand you:

1. Increase funding for the Affordable Housing Fund and change Affordable Housing Fund policies to end homelessness and promote social housing in Lexington. Specifically:
a. Allocate $50m to the Affordable Housing Fund this fiscal year and every year until every Lexington resident has access to safe, accessible, permanently affordable, sustainable housing. Funds should be reallocated from police and jail budgets.
b. Allocate all Affordable Housing Fund money to projects for homeless people and residents earning 30% Area Median Income (AMI) or less until there is no homelessness in Lexington and everyone earning 30% AMI or less has access to safe, accessible, permanently affordable, sustainable housing.
c. Allocate all Affordable Housing Fund money to social housing--that is, housing that is decommodified, resident controlled, and pro-social. (For a brief introduction to social housing, see https://www.cssny.org/news/entry/how-social-is-that-housing and https://www.cssny.org/news/entry/social-housing-in-the-us.)​

2. Enact a just rental assistance program that protects tenants in the long-run. Specifically, place conditions on all rental assistance such that any landlord receiving rental assistance from the city must:
a. Enact an eviction moratorium (i.e., commit to neither filing nor executing any evictions) for all their tenants (not just the ones for whom they receive rental assistance) for the duration of the state of emergency in Kentucky plus one year after it ends.
b. Enact good cause eviction protections for all their tenants (not just the ones for whom they receive rental assistance) until the end of 2023.
c. Freeze rent at current levels for all their tenants (not just the ones for whom they receive rental assistance) until the end of 2023.

3. Enact a ban on sweeps of homeless encampments on public land for the duration of the state of emergency in Kentucky plus one year after it ends.

By expanding the Affordable Housing Fund and targeting its funds to building social housing for those who need it most, you can guarantee every Lexingtonian a good home--and prevent mass evictions and displacements in the long-run. By ensuring landlords who receive rental assistance enact tenant protections, you can reduce the number of evictions now and over the next few years. And by banning sweeps of homeless encampments, you can stop the constant harassment of people the housing system already does massive violence to.

The measures the Urban County government has in place to support renters during this time--such as a perpetually underfunded Affordable Housing Fund, an Office of Homelessness Prevention and Intervention that has been cut by 49% this year, and $2.4 million in COVID-19 rental assistance with no strings attached--are nowhere near enough. Mayor Gorton and members of the Urban County Council, your choice is clear: accept the status quo, and be responsible for thousands of Lexingtonians losing their homes; or rise to the historic moment by protecting and ensuring Lexingtonian's human right to housing.

Sincerely,

Lexington Housing Justice Collective