UPDATE: Lanter officially takes over as city’s new Housing Advocacy director

The city department oversees all aspects of housing

UPDATE POSTED 11 A.M. TUESDAY, FEB. 1, 022

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – Mayor Linda Gorton has named Charlie Lanter the City’s first Commissioner of Housing Advocacy and Community Development.

The new Department combines six different city divisions with one common theme: housing.

“To have a strong community we have to put a strong emphasis on housing,” Gorton said. “That’s what this Department is about.”

Gorton’s goals for the department include creating opportunities for everyone to live in safe, well maintained, affordable housing; continuing the City’s work to prevent homelessness while getting people experiencing homelessness off the streets and into housing and shelters; preserving historic housing and other buildings; and building strong, equitable neighborhoods.

Lanter has a 17-year career working in housing-related issues for the City and at Community Action Council. He is the City’s former Director of the Office of Homelessness Prevention and Intervention, and was a senior manager at Community Action, which provides a number of human services.

“Housing connects to everything. Safe, quality affordable housing isn’t just a roof over a family’s head, but a path to better health, education, and economic outcomes,” Lanter said. “I’m honored to have this opportunity that unites our government services to focus on this critical community need.”

The City Divisions in the new Department are Affordable Housing; Code Enforcement; Community and Resident Services; Grants and Special Programs; Historic Preservation; and Homelessness Prevention and Intervention.

In 2017 Lanter won the Sullivan Award, the highest honor presented by the University of Kentucky for humanitarian service.

Lanter holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and government from Western Kentucky University.

Lanter and his wife, Cathy, have two children.

ORIGINAL STORY POSTED 7 P.M. JAN. 12, 022

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – A longtime advocate for the homeless and affordable housing was tapped Tuesday to be Lexington’s Housing Advocacy and Community Development commissioner.

Charlie Lanter would be in charge of the city department that oversees all aspects of housing.

The department was created following a recommendation from the Commission on Racial Justice and Equality.

Lanter spent nearly a decade at the Community Action Council before becoming Lexington’s first coordinator of homeless services in 2014.  Three years later, he was named the city’s director of the Division of Grants and Special Programs.

He is a graduate of Tates Creek High School in Lexington and Western Kentucky University.