INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Indiana’s rate of affordable and available rental homes for the most vulnerable renter households is nowtied for lowest in the Midwest and is below the national average, according to a new report published by Prosperity Indiana and the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC).
The report, The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes finds a national shortage of 7.2 million affordable and available rental homes for extremely low-income renter households – those with incomes at or below the poverty level or 30% of their area median income, whichever is greater – resulting in just 35 affordable and available rental homes for every 100 extremely low-income renter households nationwide. The report also reveals that there are 210,668 extremely low-income renter households in Indiana, and just 34 affordable and available rental homes for every 100 of these households in our state, leaving a gap of 137,138 units needed statewide. Indiana’s rate of affordable rental homes for the most vulnerable households is now not only below the national average but is tied with Illinois for the lowest among all Midwest states. These findings come amidst ongoing attacks on federal housing resources and a lack of investments at the state level targeted at increasing housing supply for low- and moderate-income Hoosiers.