“Deep Dive” Housing Report

Limestone Post and WFHB have partnered on a “Deep Dive” series, a collaboration funded by the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County. The first article in the series, “Struggling with Housing Supply, Stability, and Subsidies,” was written by reporter Steve Hinnefeld.

An excerpt: “Experts and data agree that Bloomington and Monroe County lack sufficient housing. Building permit records suggest house and apartment construction was slow to recover from the Great Recession. From 2009 to 2019, the county added only 4,715 housing units, according to StatsIndiana. About half of those were single-family homes; fewer were apartments in buildings with five or more units.”

The report quotes several Heading Home partners, including Chase Techentin of New Hope for Families, Tonda Radewan of the Housing & Eviction Prevention Program (HEPP), Kate Gazunis of the Bloomington Housing Authority, John Zody of the City of Bloomington Housing & Neighborhood Development (HAND) department, and Deborah Myerson of Myerson Consulting.

“That’s fine, prices rise. But $400 per month in one year?I want to be able to live where I’m from. To do so safely and affordably. I want to have my life here.” – Courtney Stewart

Limestone Post article: “Struggling with Housing Supply, Stability, and Subsidies“

Read the full article here.

Part 2 of this series, to be published in March, will look at how various groups and agencies are responding to housing problems. WFHB Community Radio on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. will provide more housing coverage.