Last updated: Dec 7, 2024

• Dec 3, 2024. Local Habitat chapter envisions more homes, public partnerships in 2025
  By Staff Reports -December 3, 2024
  • In his presentation, Snider noted the need for more affordable housing in the county as referenced in the 2023 Indiana Uplands Housing Study that found an additional 124 homes valued at $250,000 or less will be needed by 2030 to meet the need.

May 29, 2024. StateAffairs.com.  “The number of short-term rentals such as Airbnbs and VRBOs in Bloomington has nearly doubled since 2021, according to The Herald-Times. It is a trend local housing experts caution can drive up the cost of living and stifle options for homeowners and long-term renters during a national housing shortage. “

• • Missouri. Airbnb owners want to make a profit. College towns try to rein them in, BY: ALYSE PFEIL – DECEMBER 6, 2023 5:50 AM

    • Kansas: “Lawrence passed its first short-term rental ordinance in November 2018, followed by an update in October 2020.”
    • Fayettville, AK. Fayetteville passed its short-term rental ordinance in April 2021. This summer, it revised a citywide cap on the number of rentals.
    • Athens, GA. “Last winter, the Athens-Clarke County Commission approved an initial draft of a short-term rental ordinance, which is now being finalized by the planning department.”
    • Bloomington, IN. “The City of Bloomington does not have any short-term rental rules. In 2018, Indiana state lawmakers passed legislation that limits how local governments like Bloomington can regulate short-term rentals. For example, the law says that local governments can’t prohibit owner occupied short-term rentals in residential zoning districts.”
      • IC 36 1-  Local Government, Chapter 24 –  Short-term Rentals
        • Justia – 2023 IC 36 Ch 24
      •  
      • Proponents: “They said the measure by Berne Rep. Matt Lehman, who is one of the most powerful Republicans in the House, would promote tourism and economic development, as well as generate tax revenue. “
      • Opponents:  “tie the hands of city and county governments.”
      • Carmel thumbs nose at Indiana’s new short-term rentals law

May 15, 2024.  Home Sales, inventory increase locally, Brown County Democrat

• • According to F.C. Tucker Company’s April real estate stats, the Brown County residential real estate market saw increased home sales

  • Homes sold 31 days, or 37.8 percent, faster than this time last year. That was the greatest increase Tucker saw in all its central Indiana markets.  Available housing inventory increased 12.5 percent, The average home sale price increased 7 percent to $440,796.

    What Is Affordable Housing?, U.S. News and World Report

Indiana Business Review, INSIDE THIS ISSUE,  Spring 2024   |   Volume 99, No. 1, by Sara Coers Associate Director, IU Center for Real Estate Studies, Closing the gap_ Workforce and housing affordability

• • Available, affordable housing is a necessary component of workforce and economic development.
  • Without it, workers either migrate to other cities in search of a better combination of jobs and affordability; become cost-burdened (de ned as housing costs exceeding 30% of income); or, even worse, experience homelessness or housing insecurity. therefore, affordability impacts the ability of states and municipalities to bring new jobs to an area and retain existing workers. Because economic development is so dependent on workforce availability, the long-term fate of local economies is tied very closely to companies having sufficient workforce and, thus, workers having access to housing in the areas where they work at a price they can afford. However, a gap exists today between the workforce and necessary housing… and it’s growing.

How Muskegon, MI, Is Building Hundreds of Homes on Vacant Lots

• • Like many cities across the United States, Muskegon, Michigan, has a shortage of housing and a surplus of vacant, abandoned lots.

Seymour, IN. Mayor releases information on affordable housing in Burkart Opportunity Zone Agenda By  Erika Malone, March 18, 2024

• • Community packs city hall; many opposed to new development plan Erika Malone  March 26, 2024

  • Seymour was one of two other cities invited by the IEDC to work with Brookings Institute to develop place-based strategies to span gaps in health, wealth and opportunity. The other two cities in Indiana were Michigan City and Warsaw.

  • Passion from the community in opposition of this agenda, specifically at the idea of an Immigrant Welcome Center coming to Seymour, was heard through many as Mayor Matt Nicholson tried to explain not just the purpose of the center, but the benefits the agenda could offer the entire county.

  • Lucas said Seymour schools are “busting at the seams” and since 2012, the English-learner student population has increased more than 1,200%. He said the current English-learner student population comprises 37% of the Seymour Community School Corp., with the kindergarten classes being 50% of the school community’s population.
  • Nicholson also said no one associated with the idea of an Immigrant Welcome Center proposed it as a center for attracting illegal immigrants and that Seymour is not a sanctuary city.
    • “This is 10 times what the 5% immigrant percentage of Indiana is and this fact alone is what makes Seymour a de facto sanctuary city,” he said.
  • In the middle of audience communications, council member Drew Storey hand-distributed a resolution that opposed the Burkart Opportunity Zone Agenda. Storey made the motion and council member Jerry Hackney seconded it. The motion passed 5-1 with Councilman Brad Lucas voting against it and Councilman Seth Davidson absent.

  • Seymour, In. A Guatemalan town remakes itself in Indiana. “We’ve become a destination,” says the mayor of a small Indiana town transformed by migration.

  • Low income apartments open in Seymour, but advocates say more needed, By BENTE BOUTHIER, Posted June 21, 2023

  • More affordable housing coming to Seymour Mitchell Banks  January 27, 2022