Two apartment developments planned for Elkhart will now move forward after the state selected them to receive low-income housing tax credits, helping to address a big need in the city.
The highly competitive tax credits, awarded annually by the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, lower developers’ costs so that they can create affordable housing while still turning a profit.
They’ll help developers build apartment buildings at 1701 Sterling Avenue, where the city demolished an eyesore of an old industrial building last year, and 515 East Street, where a building will need to be torn down. That building now houses a wheelchair shop.
The apartments will be available to people earning from 30 to 80 percent of the city’s roughly $25,000 median income. Nine of the units will be reserved for people with developmental disabilities.
The two projects combined will add 92 rental units to the city, helping to address what Mayor Rod Roberson called a housing shortage.
"That is something that we hear all the time from
residents who would like to relocate, as well as employers who are having staff members come into the Elkhart area," said Roberson's director of communications, Corinne Straight. "They just can't find a place to live."
