The need for housing has become the top priority for South Bend Mayor James Mueller’s administration over the past year and on Monday, the city announced another round of funding to build more units.
Drawing from its American Rescue Plan money, South Bend is putting up nearly $2.7 million in gap financing for four developers to build a total of 29 housing units. The units will go up on currently vacant lots, mostly on the northwest side of the city.
The financing is meant to encourage developers to build in urban neighborhoods where the cost of building units is often more than private companies can make selling or renting them. The developers receiving funding through the new grants are Allen Edwin, 466 Works, Habitat for Humanity and South Bend Heritage Foundation.
South Bend’s director of community investment Caleb Bauer said the many positives of infill housing are why the city is making it a focus.
“Infill housing has so many add-on benefits for the surrounding neighborhood," Bauer said. "You have property value increases that can help with future development. Obviously it adds vibrancy to a neighborhood. It helps improve safety when you have more people living in a neighborhood.”
In addition to the newly announced infill units, Evansville-based developer Advantix is hoping to secure state funding to build another 50 units on city-owned lots that are currently empty. The infill housing comes in addition to a number of larger apartment complexes near Four Winds Field for low-income and senior residents which have received or are waiting to hear back on state funding.
The 29 units that will go up as part of the most recent funding will feature a mix of low-income and workforce allocated units. Bauer added it's crucial for South Bend to get more units in place to attract some of the influx of workers to area that will come with the announcement of the General Motors battery plant in New Carlisle.
"When we talk about GM, a huge priority for us is we want as many of the people who work at the GM plant to live in South Bend. Maybe they don't live here now, we want them to move here," Bauer said.
