If you do not believe housing is at a crisis level in southern Hamilton County, consider the following facts:
–In order to afford a market rate apartment in Fishers, you will need to make $20-$30 an hour (that translates to $41,600 to $62,400 income per year).
–The unemployment rate in Hamilton County is 2.8%.
–The retail and hospitality industries account for nearly 14% of the private sector work force in this area.
–Over 1,000 new jobs are coming to the area of Fishers around 116th Street and Interstate 69.
–Fishers job growth is projected to be 11.6% by 2021.
–There are no mass transit systems operating between Hamilton County and Indianapolis.
Put all these facts together and you find that a large number of the people needed to fill jobs coming to Fishers cannot afford to live in Fishers.
That was a major theme of the Hamilton County Area Neighborhood Development (HAND) organization during its annual conference, held Friday at Conner Prairie. Low income housing is not always for those in poverty without work…low income housing is needed for those with steady work, but have incomes too low to live in market rate housing available in places like Fishers and a large part of Hamilton County.
RealAmerica LLC is a Fishers-based firm aimed at developing and constructing apartment housing through the use of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. Ronda Shrewsbury Weybright, President and Owner of RealAmerica, told the crowd on hand for the conference about the many successful low-income housing projects her company has constructed in places like Daleville, suburban Fort Wayne and Nashville (Indiana).
Building low-income housing in suburban areas was the center of the discussion for much of the event. There was talk about how to convince neighbors that facts show low-income housing does not normally reduce property values in the area and does not draw crime to the vicinity of the complex.
Other speakers at the HAND conference included Peter Nelson from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, and Lisa Sturtevant with the Urban Land Institute’s Terwilliger Center for Housing.