Carmel Housing Task Force finds city needs more mid-sized, affordable homes

CARMEL, Ind. – A special task force in Carmel is making some big recommendations to address the housing needs in the area.

The Carmel Housing Task Force was created back in February to gather community feedback, collect data and begin exploring the possibility of a housing strategy for the city’s future.

“We need to keep a pulse on what’s happening in our community because things don’t stay static,” said Carmel Mayor Sue Finkam. “We’re a fast-growing, dynamic community.”

The Carmel Housing Task Force presented its findings on Thursday after several months of work. Among 13 different recommendations, the task force found the city needs more affordable “middle housing” options,” which the group defined as “smaller ownership units desired by both seniors looking to downsize and young, first-time home buyers.”

“We did a really good job of addressing the fact we didn’t have enough apartments in the community and building more,” said Finkam. “If we take that same mentality by proactive planning, residential feedback, good use of our dollars, we can do the same thing with missing middle housing.”

Finkam said data collected by the task force highlights why more affordable alternatives are needed in Carmel, in addition to the city’s plethora of four-bedroom homes and apartments.

“The cost of housing has gone up 30% and incomes have only gone up 8%,” she described. “That was a fact that was really important for us to understand. And 50% of our homes here have four bedrooms. That’s an interesting statistic, yet the size of families is shrinking.”

Those who have lived in Carmel for several years said they have watched the explosive growth of the city take shape over time.

“I mean the development has been insane,” described Jeff Raissle, who lives in Carmel. “It’s just blown up around here, especially this Main and Monon area. It’s just become such a great family-friendly place.”

Raissle said shining the spotlight on affordability could go a long way for some families who may wish to move to Carmel as the community continues to expand.

“It’s nice to have starter homes,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to have younger families be able to move in and start their lives here and right now it’s kind of difficult to do unless you’re in an apartment.”

But those living in Carmel like Raissle said they also want to make sure any growth is done in moderation.

“I do think there could be too much growth,” he said. “We already notice quite a bit of a traffic influx lately. It’s not as easy to get around. It’s still not a big problem, but if we continue to grow especially as we’re landlocked, it’s just going to make things a little more difficult to get around. I just don’t see how we can expand too much more without it becoming a problem.”

The task force also announced a dozen other recommendations, including making the task force a permanent committee to advise the mayor, develop a housing strategy and vision plan, adopt a development strategy for new apartment construction and acquire more green space.

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