FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 2, 2022
CONTACT: Andrew Bradley | (317) 222-1221 x403| abradley@prosperityindiana.org
Coalition Calls for Interim Study of Habitability and Housing Standards
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – In a letter signed by over 130 organizations and individuals, members of the Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition and other stakeholders are urging Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston, Senate President Pro Tempore Rod Bray, and Members of the Legislative Council to consider habitability and housing standards as topics for interim study, as included in 2022’s SB 230 authored by Sen. Fady Qaddoura, Sen. Greg Walker, and Sen. Shelli Yoder; coauthored by Sen. Rodney Pol and Sen. Vaneta Becker; and sponsored by Rep. Edward Clere and Rep. Carey Hamilton.
Safe, stable housing is needed for positive health, education, and economic outcomes for Hoosier families and the community they live in. Research from the Notre Dame Policy Network reveals that Indiana is one of only five states without habitability standard enforcement policies that allow residents to withhold rent due health and safety violations, or to repaid conditions and deduct from the cost of rent.
Habitability issues are prevalent across the state in rural, urban, and suburban communities and contributes to a gap of 135,033 affordable and available rental units for the lowest-income Hoosiers, according to a new report from Prosperity Indiana and NLIHC. Indiana now has the highest rate of severe cost burden in the Midwest for these extremely low income households, with 72 percent spending more than half of their income on housing.
The Coalition calls for an interim study of habitability and housing standards to that will help Hoosier communities thrive with improved health, education, and economic outcomes.
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About the Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition:
Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition (HHNC) was formed by members of Indiana’s housing security advocacy community in April 2020 to support advocacy and education related to housing and homelessness prevention in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Staffed by Prosperity Indiana through advocacy and coalition building grants from the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the Central Indiana Community Foundation, HHNC convenes partners from across Indiana to advocate for immediate, medium- and long-term housing stability policy solutions and conduct education and research to achieve federal, state, and local policies for an equitable response and recovery to the pandemic and beyond.
The HHNC Steering Committee is comprised of members from AARP Indiana, the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention & Prevention (CHIP), Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana, Family Promise of Greater Indianapolis, Hoosier Action, Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Indiana Community Action Poverty Institute – INCAA, Indiana University McKinney School of Law, Prosperity Indiana, The Ross Foundation, and United Way of Central Indiana.