What comes to mind when you hear the words: AFFORDABLE HOUSING? If you peruse news articles about Central Indiana affordable housing developments, you will often see direct quotes from neighbors, sharing their perspective on affordable housing:
“It’s gonna be like… a big prison built behind my house.”
“There is no way the city is going to allow this. It doesn’t allow them to integrate with the community.”
“There’s no way that… they can properly integrate with the neighborhood.”
“It’s a public safety nightmare waiting to happen…”
Reading these on-the-record quotes makes me cringe – for multiple reasons. I’m hesitant to even link the sources of these article quotes on this blog post. This particular article was not discussing the construction of a literal prison. It wasn’t discussing an ugly, dangerous building or even a liquor store. It was featuring an affordable housing development close to where I live.
Our team flips 10-12 affordable homes each year, and we care a lot about Indianapolis’ current and future affordability crisis. In my particular neighborhood of Kennedy King the average sale price has gone from $85,000 in 2010 to $385,000 today.
Indianapolis is already short by thousands of affordable units. But neighborhoods like Kennedy King, that have seen 4.5 times increase in housing prices, desperately need affordable housing solutions.
This affordability crisis is especially felt by the working-class in Indianapolis. As a team of real estate agents, we know firsthand the challenges of helping working-class households and median or below median income households find affordable housing in the urban core of Indianapolis.
As members of MIBOR, we believe that housing is a critical component of overall community health and the economy, therefore it’s important for us to fight for a balance of housing types and price points that meet the need of residents no matter where they are in their housing life cycle.
A recent study of 146 affordable housing sites in Canada concluded that “there was no statistically significant evidence that affordable housing led to increased rates of reported violent, property, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct or total crimes. In fact, the vast majority of most occupants are people who already live in the neighborhood”.
Sometimes we get blank stares when we tell people about our passion for affordable housing. Why not flip homes with higher margins? Why leave money on the table?
1) It’s true. We could tackle trendier projects, in developed neighborhoods, at higher price points, and with larger profit margins. The vast majority of developers capitalize on these opportunities, and why wouldn’t they? Nevertheless, we believe that affordable housing is one of the best ways we can serve our city.
2) There is already a shortage of affordable, attainable starter homes for buyers. With average prices hovering around $250,000, this isn’t always an attainable option for first time home buyers. In the vast majority of cases, our affordable flips are purchased by individuals whose household income falls at or below the median household income.
3) Indianapolis’ affordability is changing FAST. Neighborhoods are changing FAST. Since our team has the know-how, resources, and person-power – why not meet this need?
Our team – in collaboration with 3 contractors and a design firm – provide affordable, attainable housing in neighborhoods, before their prices skyrocket, so that first time home buyers can acquire a property before getting priced-out of the market.