Tax credits will propel three Evansville affordable housing developments forward
John T. Martin
EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Tax credits awarded to three affordable housing developments in Evansville will allow them to start construction, taking a few more bites out of the city's much-discussed affordable housing shortage.
One project is being developed by Memorial Community Development Corp. That is Memorial Lofts, which is spread over two locations: an old Boy Scout office on Bayard Park Drive and in a Lincoln Avenue strip mall near Lincoln School.
The other two projects are Evansville Townhomes II, spread across different locations, and Erie Pointe, on the former Erie Homes site at Southeast Tenth Street and Lincoln Avenue. Those are projects of the nonprofit Evansville Housing Authority and its for-profit arm, Advantix Development Corp.
Memorial Lofts will have a total of 50 units at its two sites, and Memorial CDC hopes to start construction in 2020, said Serita Cabell, executive director.
The two other projects also are anticipated to get going in 2020.
Erie Pointe will have 38 units. The Town Homes II project involves rehabbing 60 existing housing units with new appliances and other upgrades. Those developments will provide housing for families earning up to 80 percent of Evansville's area median income.
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"We're able to rehab and sustain units we already have, and we can fold in new ones," Evansville Housing Authority Director Rick Moore said.
The three Evansville developments are among 18 in Indiana announced this week as recipients of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits by the Board of Directors for the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority.
The program incentivizes private developers to build new affordable housing or acquire and rehab old housing units.
In total, $170 million in new tax credits were announced. These credits often are the final piece of funding needed to get a project going, said Kelley Coures, director of the Evansville Department of Metropolitan Development.
Evansville is hardly alone in its need for more decent, affordable housing.
“The award announcement is an important step toward tackling the growing affordability problem Hoosiers are facing,” Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch of Evansville said in a news release. “Once completed, these developments will provide much needed affordable housing to over 900 individuals and families across the state.”
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