By Cate Wachholz
Over the past year, Lexington city officials have hashed out details of a program that the director of the city’s Threshold Housing Commission, Shadrey Sands, says will finally provide much-needed support for homeowners who cannot afford to make essential repairs and maintenance improvements.
Sands said the Homeowner Helper Program will improve the quality of life for residents who may be living in unsafe and unhealthy conditions.
“It’s really exciting that Threshold gets to be a part and help out the city again and go back to what we were doing, which is helping maintain the housing stock in Lexington,” he said.
City Council has put aside $250,000 to pay pre-approved contractors to make repairs and maintenance improvements to homes in the city.
The program will assist homeowners with porch repairs, exterior painting, roof repairs, bathroom or kitchen repairs to make them functional and sanitary, and more.
The program is a collaboration between the city of Lexington and the Lexington Economic Development Authority but will be administered by the Department of Planning and Development with the Threshold Housing Commission.
The Planning Department staff will compile a list of contractors who are approved by the city to do the work covered by the program.
Lexington City Manager Tom Carroll first discussed the possibility of the program at a City Council work session in October of last year.
“I proposed this idea right after the start of Fiscal Year 2025 because we ended Fiscal Year 24 with over $1 million surplus,” Carroll said in an email. “I asked Council to consider setting aside $250,000 from that unexpected surplus to capitalize this program.”
Carroll started the program in Silverton, Ohio, when he was the village manager there. But the program covered only the costs of repairs to the exterior of homes that were cited for code violations.
“We knew there that, in some cases, property owners would want to comply but simply lacked the means to keep up their homes,” he said. “In Lexington, we are not connecting the homeowner helper program to code enforcement.”
Challenges for Lexington
Carroll was surprised by the condition of many homes when he moved to Lexington in 2024.
“Most homes in Lexington are in excellent condition. But as I drove around the community to familiarize myself with all parts of the town after starting as city manager in May of 2024, I realized there are more properties with needs than I had realized,” he said.
Sands said it is necessary to help community members maintain their homes.
“One of the biggest things about this area is that there’s not a whole lot of affordable housing,” he said. “The best way to keep your affordable housing is by maintaining your housing stock currently.”
Carroll said the biggest challenge will be finding contractors to do the work with the city as the client.
“Silverton was within the Cincinnati metropolitan area and had a lot more contractors to work with. Lexington is more rural and there are just not as many contractors nearby,” he said.
Housing scores
Arne Glaeser, director of Planning and Development, said Threshold has been working on the project for over six months, and the program summary and application are almost complete.
“Over the last couple of meetings, the Threshold Commission is tweaking and calibrating their score sheet,” Glaeser said in an email, “and this score sheet will obviously be utilized for the selection of projects.”
Potential projects are divided into three priority categories, according to a draft of the score sheet.
Top priority homes are defined as having unsafe or unhealthy conditions that the program can address. Or they are homes that face urgent circumstances that pose an immediate risk.
The second-tier category includes homes that need exterior improvements within the program’s parameters—or homes identified in the 2024 windshield housing assessment, which evaluated housing conditions in Lexington.
The lowest priority category includes homes in which the household has at least one vulnerable member, either a child under 18, a head of household over 62, a veteran head of household, a disabled head of household, or a household member who is disabled, elderly, or a veteran.
“It started off as this like, goal, like how do we do this? How do we allocate this?” Sands said. “And now we actually have a scorecard that we’re talking through and figuring out logistics, and we feel like we’re pretty much on pace to launch this program in the new year.”
Timeframe
Lexington will open the application period for the program on or around Jan. 15 with a due date of on or before March 1. Decisions are expected by Memorial Day. If additional funding is still available, applicants can apply after March 1.
The program is open to all homeowners in Lexington. But Threshold will prioritize applications according to need, community benefit and available funds.
Glaeser said the commission does not know how many homeowners will meet the eligibility requirements because there are no formal income thresholds. The reason: to ensure that the program is more accessible and to avoid discouraging applicants who might not qualify under stricter guidelines.
Residents interested in applying for the program can contact the city’s planning department to request an application packet. Staff will be available to help with applications.
Sands says he hopes residents will be patient with the program.
“It could take a little bit of time. And so, I anticipate maybe a little bit of anxiety or frustration from that process,” he said. “I totally get that, but it’s kind of what’s necessary when we’re using Lexington funds … We want to make sure we’re spending it (wisely).”