Fox59: Hoosiers priced out of Indy housing market
ICYMI: ‘Priced out of Northwest Indiana’: Rents outpacing salaries; low-income Hoosiers hardest hit
INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Democratic Party, the organization that advocates for the future of Indiana and its families, today brought to light how the Indiana Republican Party’s “work more for less” economy is once again failing Hoosier workers and the families they provide for each day. According to a new report by Fox59, low incomes for workers is contributing to many families being “priced out” of the communities they call home. Indianapolis is not alone because Hoosier families in Northwest Indiana are also feeling the same burden with many workers admitting to clocking in 80 hours a week just to afford basic rent.
Since 2012, Indiana’s so-called “right to work” laws have plunged wages for its workers. According to the Economic Policy Institute, about 30-percent of Indiana workers make minimum wage or low-wage jobs. This means more than 892,000 Hoosiers earn less than $15.00 an hour. Hoosier families have seen diminished opportunity under the Indiana Republican Party, and this partisanship has led to the state’s workforce being handed an “F” grade from CNBC’s “Top States for Doing Business” report.
Indiana Democrats have a solution to fix this problem for Hoosiers, and it’s through President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better agenda. Under Biden’s American Jobs Plan, its once-in-a-generation investments in infrastructure will create good-paying jobs and dismantle the state’s “right to work” laws via the Protect the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. Democrats are ready to deliver for Hoosiers and fix the mess the INGOP created.
Fox59: Hoosiers priced out of Indy housing market
“As the pandemic gripped the nation, many industries were affected, including the housing market. While many businesses saw dips, sellers on the housing market saw dramatic increases.
This shift in the market meant over-priced homes, and for Indianapolis, it further highlighted an already existent housing affordability crisis.
FOX59’s Beairshelle Edmé found the three major issues contributing to the Circle City’s housing crisis.
Joe Hanson, executive director of the Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership, detailed two possible options to address the lack of affordable housing.
“You either have to reduce the cost of housing or you have to increase income,” Hanson detailed.
But neither is happening right now.” […]
The affordable housing advocate explains Indy homes are often affordable only to Hoosiers with high incomes, upwards of six plus figures sometimes.
“So as recently as 2014, the median price for a home in Marion County was $104,000 and the median income was in the low $40,000, and so a median income at that time could afford a median-priced home,” he explained. “Fast forward to today… that’s ballooned to $220,000 so that’s a 115% increase in home prices, but incomes have not risen to that pace.”
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