Why Indianapolis still doesn't have enough affordable housing

Another great report from Indy Star reporter Ko Lyn Cheang. The answer to “why” is complex. “(Mayor) Hogsett acknowledged in his mayoral bid announcement for a third term that he knows "the best way to end the violence in our streets is by helping our families stay in their homes." We appreciate his acknowledgment, but recent history shows that the city is not willing to take anything close to dramatic steps to put a dent in the housing issues.

• “Since 2017, the city has supported the construction of 3,842 units of affordable rental housing and 887 permanent supportive housing units by private and nonprofit developers, according to an IndyStar analysis of city data.” That’s great, but estimates are that Marion County is some 150,000 affordable housing units short - that’s just to reach parity for what’s needed now

• “But there still is a shortage of 33,600 homes for extremely low-income individuals in Indianapolis, according to the SAVI study.” This is just for “extremely low-income individuals” who end up paying upwards of 50-80% of their incomes on housing. “The report found that Indiana has the highest housing cost burden among all Midwest states for the lowest-income residents, with 72% of these households spending more than half their income on housing. There is a shortage of 135,000 homes for these renters (in Indiana).

• “This problem extends far beyond the Circle City to the whole state. Indiana has a shortage of homes affordable to very low-income and extremely low-income renters or those who earn less than 50% of the area median income, which is about $41,000 for a four-person household. For every 100 households in this income group, there are only 78 homes, according to an April report released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) and Prosperity Indiana.” Estimates are that Indiana is 450,000 affordable housing units short, again, just to reach parity.

• “The statehouse might be making moves to increase the supply of affordable housing, with legislators indicating it will be a priority this upcoming session.” Might be isn’t good enough? We are pushing hard for legislators to take action to enable more affordable housing.

• “It (Indiana’s General Assembly) also passed a bill last session creating a new statewide affordable housing tax credit that the city said will be a huge boost to its ability to build low-income housing using the federal low-income housing tax credit program, which is the nationwide affordable housing program.” It’s a start but not nearly enough.

• “Indianapolis is hamstrung in what it can do to control or stabilize rent prices, and thus increase the supply of affordable housing through that method, because the Indiana General Assembly banned cities in 2017 from regulating rents in the private market.” The Indiana General Assembly made it illegal for local municipalities to manage their own markets - almost unprecedented in the US.

  “Why is it that Indiana is getting hit with so many different types of housing burdens?” Amy Nelson, executive director of the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana, said. “It just seems like it’s (state) bills like that that are causing people so much distress in being able to find safe, affordable housing options.”

• “Advocates say that the solution must include the preservation of existing affordable housing, most of which only remains affordable for a fixed period, typically 10 to 30 years.”

  “If you have units that have fallen into disrepair and lack the resources for owners, renters, or property managers to keep them up, then they’re no longer part of supply of truly affordable and available housing,” Bradley said.

• “Housing researchers also said Indianapolis' current model of developing affordable housing through tying financing for private developers to affordability requirements has not been successful in solving the affordable housing crisis.”

We must do something different. Einstein’s definition of insanity comes to mind, doing the same thing expecting different results.

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/local/indianapolis/2022/12/29/indianapolis-affordable-housing-shortage-persists/69692302007/