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Hoosier housing advocates—who’ve long held that the state lacks enough affordable, stable and safe dwellings—asked Indiana Gov. Mike Braun to convene a dedicated commission in a Friday letter signed by nearly 700 supporters.
“Indiana is experiencing a crisis,” reads the document, which was led by community economic development group Prosperity Indiana.
“Despite incremental steps taken by state policymakers to address pieces of the crisis, there remains a dire need for leadership to coordinate among Indiana government branches, agencies, and stakeholders to resolve the dangers caused by this shortage and the difficulties of enforcing health and safety standards,” the request continues.
Advocates acknowledged recently implemented programs as bright spots, including a revolving loan fund to support pricey housing infrastructure build-outs and a massive regional economic development initiative.
But the crisis persists, the letter contends.
The state has only 38 affordable rental homes available for every 100 extremely low-income Hoosier households, according to a March analysis by Prosperity Indiana.
That’s a gap of nearly 140,000 units for the 220,000 households with incomes at or below the poverty level or 30% of their area’s median income. And about 75% of such households spend more than half of their limited incomes on housing, meaning they’re “severely” cost-burdened.
“Because of this shortage and rising costs, too many of the most vulnerable Hoosiers are thrown into housing instability,” the letter continues. “They must make do with inadequate housing that they cannot afford, subjecting themselves and their children to the risk of eviction and homelessness.”
More than 70,000 Indiana households have had an eviction filed against them in the past year alone, according to Eviction Lab. An additional 95,000 households—including about 115,000 children—are at risk of eviction, per the National Equity Atlas’ rent debt dashboard.
The letter went on to argue that housing instability forces Hoosiers into inferior units, which may expose occupants to poisonous lead, infectious disease, violence and more.
Related complications include Indiana’s “patchwork of codes for health and safety” in rental housing and the “difficulties in enforcing” them.
There are widely diverging methods and standards for enforcement of local and state codes between Indiana’s 92 counties and additional cities, with many reporting apparent confusion and roadblocks when it comes to implementation at the local level,” the letter holds. “This is what allows for subpar housing to exist.”
It cites last year’s South Bend rental home fire as an example of the potentially deadly consequences. WNDU reported that the house failed a safety inspection for electrical problems just months before it caught fire and killed six children.
“We believe that Indiana would benefit from a comprehensive review and evaluation of its existing systems of code standards and enforcement to inform public policy and safeguard the health and safety of Hoosiers,” the letter concludes. “Doing so would improve the quality of available affordable housing and protect households of limited financial means. We also believe that Indiana would benefit from increased collaboration among Indiana government branches, agencies, and stakeholders to take additional steps to increase the supply of affordable housing.”
The document has more than 20 pages of signatures from organizations and individual supporters.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, not-for-profit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
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