Wayne County launching accelerator program to boost housing stock
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The Economic Development Corp. of Wayne County has launched a program to give housing developers an incentive to finish the buildout of existing, but incomplete subdivisions.
The Housing Accelerator Program will provide grants up to $250,000 to help cover public infrastructure costs, such as the buildout of public streets, roads, sidewalks and utilities in the neighborhoods.
“We have a very old housing stock, and we have a lot of unfinished subdivisions throughout the county where we saw an opportunity to encourage the finishing those subdivisions that are already plotted throughout Wayne County,” said EDC of Wayne County President Valerie Shaffer.
Shaffer told Inside INdiana Business that the program is starting with a pool of $500,000 that comes from the county’s Consolidated Economic Development Income Tax, or EDIT, fund.
“Currently, we have $500,000 available,” she said. “However, we have discussed that if there is tremendous interest and we receive a lot more applications than we have funding that we can have additional conversations and free up some additional resources to expand the scope of the program.”
To be eligible for a grant, developers must have at least five years of experience in developing housing units, and projects must be within communities that make financial contributions to the EDIT fund.
The program is open to for-profit and nonprofit organizations, as well as cooperatives and public entities, and preference will be given to applicants that are able to build a minimum of 10 housing units, the EDC said.
Sarah Mitchell, economic development manager for the EDC, said the early response to the program from developers has been very positive.
“We’ve had some meetings prior to this launch just to get a gauge of whether this would be a feasible alternative for them,” Mitchell said. “And they felt as though this would be very helpful in finishing those subdivisions.”
Shaffer said Wayne County, like many communities across the country, is facing a housing shortage, and she hopes this program will help alleviate that problem.
“When families can’t find adequate housing in Wayne County, they will move to areas outside our county,” she said. “This is a talent retention and attraction issue for employers as well as a quality-of-life issue for residents.”
A recent housing study found that the county has the capacity to add more than 50 new homes each year for the next 10 years. Shaffer said he hopes the program will help re-engage the building community in Wayne County to make a significant increase in the number of new homes.
The application deadline is March 17, and funding announcements are expected to be made in April. You can find more information about the Housing Accelerator Program by clicking here.