CLOSING THE GAP
Developing truly affordable housing
Volunteer weekends May - June 2024
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Volunteer weekends May - June 2024 >>>>
Are you ready to be a part of KY Gives Day? It’s a day to celebrate all the good going on in our communities! #KYGives24
Click Here to donate today and join the rest of Kentucky in supporting your favorite nonprofit Gleanings Housing, Inc.
Join Us in celebrating all the good Gleanings Housing has accomplished by joining our race to raise funds for affordable housing.
Donations are open May 1st - May 8th
The Local Affordable Housing Crisis-Homelessness
As of 2020, there is a nationwide deficit of 7.3 million rental housing units for lower-income households. Only 33 affordable and available rental units exist for every 100 very-low-income households in need of rental housing. Development must seek out more than rental profits and existing subsidies to ensure ALL are housed. Check our News page for vital data and projections about our affordable housing crisis.
Gleanings Housing has seen a clear need for equitable affordable housing measures, and we are asking the communities of Lexington, KY and the Commonwealth to take action with us in building a new way to develop affordable rental housing. Join Us.
Partner with us!
Gleanings Housings’ goal of creating affordable housing is a community effort, we cannot do it alone.
Find out how you can join our efforts .
Donating & Investing go hand-in-hand with Gleanings Housing
Watch our ‘Why donate…?’ video where we talk to those already investing a manageable monthly donation to Gleanings’ development of affordable rental housing in Lexington, KY. We are convinced that housing should be accessible for all and represents a social need not just a commodity for those able to pay a high enough price. When you donate to Gleanings Housing, you are not just providing a small monetary gift, but you are investing in your community’s overall well-being.
Living out our faith in action.
At Gleanings Housing, we believe that we have been called to give back; to show love and grace by joining with the Lord to care for the poor and the ‘foreigner’ in our midst.
According to US Census Bureau, 14.9% of the population of Lexington lives at or below the poverty line. The poverty guidelines as set by the US Department of Health and Human Services in 2024 for a household of two is $20,440 and represents earnings of around $9.82/hour.
The median income in Lexington for a family of four is $93,400/year, which equals $44.90/hour at 40 hours a week. This is the income that allows for sustainable living in the area. HUD uses the Area Median Income (AMI) to identify household eligibility for housing subsidies and other services. Households become eligible at 80% of AMI. In 2023, a Lexington household of four qualified for HUD services at $71,450/year which equals to $34.35/hour at 40 hours a week.
Commerce Lexington documented 287,008 households in Lexington. Of those households, 29% (or 83,687 households) do not earn enough to afford a two bedroom apartment without being cost burdened.
According to the Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice (AI) created for the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG), the most common issue in housing is cost-burdening. Cost-burdening occurs when a household does not have access to affordable housing choices. Affordability is defined as paying no more than 30% of a household’s monthly income towards sustaining adequate housing.
Gleanings Housing, Inc has modeled a program for addressing this problem, and we need your help in leveraging community capital & cooperation for the development of affordable and fair rental housing.
Looking at our affordable housing crisis, Lexington
Running the Numbers
In Lexington, the fair market value:
1-bedroom apartment is $983/month
2-bedroom apartment is $1177/month
3-bedroom apartment is $1,599/month
A single parent with one child must earn $24.52/hour for 40-hours or $3,923/month (pre-tax) to sustain what HUD identifies as affordability on a 2-bedroom unit and meet other living costs.
A single person must earn $18.43/hour for 40-hours or $2,949/month (pre-tax) to afford a one-bedroom apartment and meet the affordability index of paying no more than 30% of their monthly income for housing. Kentucky’s minimum wage is $7.25/hour.
Do you see the gap?
In Fayette County, 30% of the area median income (AMI) is $21,450 for family of two.
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Inspiration for the Gleanings’ Name:
“When you reap the harvest of your land, do not harvest to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God.”
— Leviticus 23:22