Indiana housing costs are rising faster than Hoosier wages, new study shows

INDIANAPOLIS — It’s no secret that homes are too expensive these days.

A new report released by Prosperity Indiana and The National Low Income Housing Coalition on Thursday shows that reasonable housing is becoming even less attainable for Hoosiers.

Indiana residents need to make $22 an hour in order to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment here, which is a $3 increase from last year.

“Despite overall cooling of inflation, and sometimes record low unemployment throughout the state and throughout the country, we’re still seeing the cost of housing rise far faster than wages are here in Indiana,” said Andrew Bradley, Senior Director of Policy and Strategy for Prosperity Indiana.

According to the Statewide Association for Economic Development, two years ago Indiana’s top 20 occupations paid enough to afford housing, but now less than two-thirds can.

“There’s an underproduction of new housing that’s targeted at the incomes that need it most, low and moderate incomes,” said Bradley. “We also see a need for targeted policies to preserve the supply of housing that we already have.”

All across the state, the bar is high to afford to pay for housing, including in metro areas like Indianapolis.

The city said they take advantage of grant funding and give incentives to developers to include cost-effective spaces.

“Some of the metrics that we look at when we look at that need would be the vacancy rate of our existing apartment buildings, the number of people who currently do not have housing,” said Megan Vukusich, Director of the Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development. “There’s certainly a need for affordable housing in our community.”

The city added they try to bring high-paying jobs to the community, so people are able to afford the housing being built.

“We’re afraid that those housing costs are going to continue to outpace what your renters can afford, unless Indiana’s federal, state, and local policymakers work together and make housing a top priority,” said Bradley.

Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch and the Indiana Housing Community Development Authority announced $11 million towards eight affordable housing projects.

Indiana is now ranked the 34th least affordable state in the country.

To read the full report, click here .

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