In Plymouth, officials have joined forces to develop workforce housing that will become part of the Riverside Meadows subdivision. Officials are becoming increasingly concerned that businesses won't be able to expand without affordable housing to support workers. Staff photo by Michael Caterina
When your weekly grocery bill is up by $25 or more these days, there might be some creative ways to get around it – perhaps by picking some substitutes, generic products or even doing without some items.
But when the cost of housing – whether it's renting or buying – is subject to the same inflation that’s impacting nearly aspect of life right now, it’s a lot harder to find a work around, especially for those who might be having a harder time making ends meet.
The issue of affordable housing – roughly estimated at around $150,000 in Michiana – is increasingly gaining the attention of community and business leaders. In Marshall County, a public-private consortium recently announced the construction of 48 units of workforce housing destined for Plymouth and LaPaz.
In South Bend, Councilman Henry Davis Jr. has been hosting forums on the issue involving a wide variety of stake-holders, and hopes to generate enough momentum to get the city and partner organizations to tackle the issue in the city.
“We lost a lot of housing because of the ‘1,000 houses and 1,000 days’ program,” Davis said, referring to the 2013 initiative under the Buttigieg administration to repair or remove 1,000 blighted houses in the city. “Now we need to figure out how to add back some of that housing that was lost.”
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