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The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Human Rights
Commission held its Tenth Annual Fair Housing Luncheon on Tuesday, April 12,
2005 at the Hyatt Regency in Lexington. Over 170 people joined the
Commission to celebrate April as Fair Housing Month and to hear guest
speaker Darcey Talbert share her story of homeownership.
The luncheon was preceded this year by a workshop on
affordable housing. The workshop, “Affordable Home Ownership in Lexington:
Strategies for the Future,” examined the state of local affordable home
ownership and ways to preserve and promote affordability. Panelists from the
Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government’s Divisions of Community
Development and Planning discussed the comprehensive plan and ways to define
affordable housing and representatives from the Community Reinvestment
Alliance of Lexington and Habitat for Humanity Lexington discussed local
impediments to affordable home ownership and possible solutions.
After the workshop, attendees joined the Commission
for its Tenth Annual Fair Housing Luncheon where they were addressed by
Lexington Mayor Teresa Isaac, Commission Chair Gloria Rie, and Krista Mills,
Director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD)
Kentucky Office.
The highlight of the luncheon was the Harrison
Elementary Fair Housing Coloring Contest and the guest speaker, Darcey
Talbert. Third-grade students from Harrison Elementary School accepted
awards for their participation in the fair housing coloring contest as part
of a larger Commission program that works to get housing information to the
guardians and parents of the students and to expose students to fair housing
and diversity information. Ms. Talbert shared with the audience her
experience of buying a home through the Lexington Urban League’s housing
program.
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