Much of the $15 million awarded to the Indiana First Regional Development Plan as part of the state’s new READI program will be spent to bolster housing stock across five counties.
Officials with Indiana First — which includes Knox, Harrison, Perry, Pike and Spencer counties — announced recently that their “focus” in naming priorities for their READI funds will be on bridging the gap in “quality workforce housing,” according to a press release issued by the organization.
Dubbing the initiative “Talent’s Hometown,” Indiana First officials say a large portion of the $15 million will contribute to the construction of 400 new homes across all of southwest Indiana.
“This initiative will support multiple public infrastructure projects in each county, opening additional development opportunities for residential builders,” the release states.
“The shortage of quality, affordable housing in our region is among the greatest challenges to economic growth,” said Darrell Voelker, Indiana First committee member and director of the Harrison County Economic Development Corp. “The Indiana First region intends to maximize our efforts to address these gaps.”
Upon completion of the initial round of READI funding, awarded by the Indiana Economic Development Corp., the Indiana First region anticipates an increase of more than 205 single-family homes and at least 85 multi-family residential units across the five-county area.
The $7.1 million Indiana First is prepared to invest in public infrastructure to bolster these housing projects should leverage more than $109 million in private capital investments and nearly $39 million in local matching funds, the release states.
Locally, Chris Pfaff, president of Knox County Indiana Economic Development, said $1.7 million of the more than $5 million coming to Knox County for projects will go toward a sewer extension, specifically extending gravity sewer from Elkhorn Road to Sievers Road in preparation for the first of what they hope is many housing developments on the city’s east side.
This first development — officials have not yet announced the name of the developer — could result in as many as 48 multi-family units.
“Ultimately the vision is that this will open up a lot of ground on the east side of Vincennes for housing development,” Pfaff said. “And this is just Phase I of what we hope is a three-phase project.
“It’s likely that in READI round two, assuming there is another one, we will probably go back and ask for more funds for Phase II.”
The ultimate goal of Indiana First in spending so much of its READI funds on infrastructure projects to entice housing development is part of southwestern Indiana’s desire to attract talent, hence the tagline “Talent’s Hometown.
“The intent of the READI program is to improve quality of place, improve amenities and attract talent, and so I think we feel like being in a more rural part of Indiana, the term ‘Talent’s Hometown’ resonated with where we are geographically.
“We want to grow population and workforce, and housing has a lot to do with that.”
Pfaff, too, said more specific information is likely in the coming weeks about the housing projects — including the one in Knox County — being bolstered by READI funds.
Pfaff last week announced that just about a third of Indiana First’s $15 million would be spent right here in Knox County.
In addition to the sewer project, more than $800,000 is going to the expansion of a nurse training program at Good Samaritan Hospital, specifically a simulation lab there will be doubled in size.
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