Legislators are discussing ways to increase the supply of affordable housing in Indiana. But it’s not as simple as just building more.
Builders and housing advocates told a legislative study committee cities need to take a fresh look at zoning laws. Jeff Kingsbury with the Indianapolis real estate company Greenstreet says zoning ordinances allowing only single-family housing make it hard to create walkable, mixed-use developments for people with limited incomes.
Some builders and affordable housing groups suggest giving a second look to a an affordable housing tax credit proposed earlier this year by Attica Representative Sharon Negele (R). Kevin Biggs, president of Decatur’s Biggs Group, says while Indiana has capitalized on several federal credits, it’s barely touched the smallest of those programs, which requires a local match.
Heather Presley-Cowen, co-founder of the Housing Resource Hub in Fort Wayne, says the demand is there for lower-priced housing. She says the “gaping hole” in Indiana’s affordable-housing efforts is the absence of a revolving loan fund to finance low-income housing.
And Kingsbury says Indiana can’t build its way out of the problem. He says you can’t improve affordability without expanding what people can afford, increasing household incomes by investing in education, job training and child care.
