Affordable housing coming to Hamilton County shows 'momentum,' advocates say

Indianapolis Star

15-05-2025

Three housing complexes in Hamilton County will be under construction this year to tap a small dent in the area's stubborn shortage of affordable housing.
But even that limited forward progress counts as giant steps in a field where funding, commitment, cooperation and available land are scarce.
'Our word of the year was 'momentum,'' said Andrea Davis, executive director of Hamilton County Area Neighborhood Development, a nonprofit that builds low-cost homes. 'We hope to keep it going.'
Two projects – in Noblesville and Carmel – headed by HAND are scheduled to break ground in the next few months. The other, a much larger project by an Indianapolis developer, is under construction in Noblesville.
In addition, two developments by HAND were completed last year: Cumberland Cottages in Fishers and in Noblesville's Plum Prairie district.
'Our goal now is to identify two projects every year that we can pursue,' Davis said.
The two developments to start construction this year are:
The homes in both developments will be rented to households earning up to 60% of the area median income, capped at $55,620 for a three-person household or $61,740 for a four-person household.
Already under construction are the Townhouses at Stony Creek at 1225 S. 16th St., Noblesville. The $15.2 million development will have 39 townhouses in five buildings renting to families making below 60%, 50% and 30% of the area median income of $102,900 for a family of four.
The project by Indianapolis-based T&H Investments, just blocks from HAND's Stony Creek Duets, is one of the larger low-income projects in Hamilton County. It sits in an industrial zone just south of a government public works building and was a trailer park until 2006.
On the site recently, a dozen construction workers finished driving nails into the wooden frames of the first building on the north end of the project while excavators moved dirt and cement mixers stood ready to prepare the foundations for some of the other four buildings.
'We're moving fast after some weather delays earlier this season,' T & H Site Superintendent Mike Wheatley said, as he stood next to a large pile of lumber planks. 'As far as know we've purchased all the supplies we need and are on schedule.'
The first building will be a row of 11 two-story townhouses with three bedrooms on the second floor, he said. The other four buildings will have fewer units but with identical layouts. Surface parking will separate the buildings and a community center will be built near the entrance to the development.
The apartments will be available for families making below 60%, 50% and 30% of the area median income, with 20% set aside for people with disabilities.
Other proposals since 2006 to put low-income housing on the site have failed. The most recent was in 2016, when developer Real America submitted plans to build low-income housing for people 55 years of age and older. But its application for tax credits was denied, and the project was dropped.
A 2022 Housing Needs study found that nearly 19,000 Hamilton County households, or one in four, spend more than 30% of their income on rent, a yardstick set by the federal government to define cost-burdened households. Many spend more than half of their income on rent or mortgage payments.
Aimee Jacobsen, executive director of the Noblesville Housing Authority, which oversees public housing countywide, said unattainable rents and home prices make it difficult for working class families to find places to live.
'That's much of the workforce, like teachers, emergency responders,' she said.
The county has about 1,900 low-income units available through housing vouchers, one Section 8 development and 10 'tax credit' complexes that were built with substantial government subsidies to provide fair market rentals.
Jacobsen said increasingly political, business and corporate leaders are recognizing affordable housing as a problem. Each of the county's four large cities has had committees study the problem.
'I think they see it as a priority,' she said.
T & H Vice-President of Development Scarlett Andrews said Noblesville and Hamilton County were cooperative as the company navigated funding, zoning and permitting approvals.
'This site has seen multiple possible iterations,' she said. 'We were lucky to have full support.'
'Hopefully, this will turn out to be a meaningful project," she said.