LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Looking for stable housing options brings a lot of stress and anxiety with it. Where does the location need to be? Is it affordable? Are the conditions of the building livable?
The Lexington Habitat for Humanity is hoping to provide housing stability and raise mental health awareness as they kick off their 2025 build season.
“Those are life changing events, and the stress is real,” said Lexington Habitat for Humanity CEO Darryl Neher. “The ability of the stability that comes through home ownership, is an important byproduct.”
To help provide that stability, the Lexington Habitat is building a new group of townhomes. It takes about 12 to 14 weeks to build one townhome.
“Originally these were only three or four lots,” said Construction Director Huston Royster. “We were able with the town homes to fit seven families and serve seven families in one area.”
“This allows us to build more on a smaller footprint to provide more housing to those people who deserve it and need it,” Neher said.
This build has a special purpose: to raise mental health awareness.
The next townhome to go in is sponsored by the Parker Family Foundation to remember Grayson Parker, a 21-year-old who struggled with depression and died in 2024.
“The part of today that I really hope people take away is that that you are not alone, that if you are walking through depression and mental illness and no one in your life knows, talk to people,” Neher said.
Today’s cold weather delayed the raising of the walls, but this will be the fourth of seven townhomes going in at the location on the corner of Seventh St. and Maple Avenue.
“We're hoping to be done by August of this year,” Royster added. “It'll take us about a full year to go through this whole development, build the 7 town homes, and then do the infrastructure and stuff for LFUCG.”
