A Lexington City Council committee was updated Tuesday on a $200,000 feasibility study for the city’s homeless shelter needs. Charlie Lanter is commissioner of Housing Advocacy and Community Development. He told the General Government and Planning Committee the year-long timeframe had much to do with choosing where to put a new shelter.
“The reason that it is as long as it is, again, is the site-ing. When you start working on it, any council member knows this, where to put a shelter, and who will operate it — those are really complex questions that can raise significant issues.”
Lanter said among other things, the study will examine annual cost of operations and options for groups of people not currently served because they fall through one gap or another.
“Whether it’s people who can’t get in due to having a pet or people who are in a family, there’s various scenarios in which our current shelter system is not able to serve our population.”
Lanter said a request for proposals will be issued this week.