On March 28, the Lexington County Council adopted a resolution that declared April to be Fair Housing Month, following  the footsteps of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

According to the county, it is continuously working on two different programs, the First Time Homebuyer Program and the HOME Program.

The First Time Homebuyer Program pushes to create affordable housing for low- and moderate-income households.

According to the county, the goal of this program is to make homeownership more affordable by decreasing down payments and/or closing costs for qualifying first-time buyers. To do this, the county uses HOME Program funds, which is the largest Federal block grant available to state and local governments.

“Now more than ever, the principles of fair housing are important in Lexington County,” said Council Member Todd Cullum. “If not for fair housing assistance, those that are in the middle to lower income levels could very well be priced out of the county in which they were raised and want to work and raise the next generation of Lexington residents.”

To better understand the barriers the county faces when it comes to fair housing choice, the county conducted an analysis of impediments starting in 2020, with results that it says are valid through 2024.

Some of the impediments listed in the analysis include:

• Limited affordable housing – to work towards ending this the county continues to use HOME Program and Community Development Block Grant Program funds.
• Lack of fair housing awareness –  to combat this the county’s Community Development has created fair housing videos in collaboration with the Lexington County Library and has sponsored fair housing seminars.
• Lack of housing for special needs, elderly, disabled and the homeless population – the county shared that the number of homeless should not be ignored, adding that several years ago they made public policy decisions to work collaboratively across political and geographic boundaries to address issues of homelessness through the ongoing support of entities such as the Lexington Domestic Abuse Shelter (managed by Sistercare Inc.) and Transitions Homeless Center.  
• Lack of economic opportunities – the county said the current lack of economic opportunities leads to lower income households being unable to increase their income, which can impact their quality of life.

The county has also collaborated with Richland County and the City of Columbia to promote fair housing, posting messages on billboards across both counties and Columbia.

The county also donated 150 school starter kits to the Lexington County School District 1 Foundation to promote fair housing and to help those in need.

To get the younger generation involved with promoting fair housing the community development grant staff for the county held its second annual poster contest, open to all K-5 students in the county. Students who wished to participate were able to illustrate a poster that shows their vision of fair housing.

“It’s important for everyone to have the same opportunity to live the American dream, that includes home ownership,” said Council Chair Beth Carrigg.