House committee members on Monday voted to add an additional $25 million to a revolving loan fund designed to incentivize housing construction. In particular, House Bill 1005 prioritizes funding for rural communities with density-friendly rules, such as multifamily units, and allows the funds to be used for infrastructure improvements.
A homebuilder himself, Rep. Doug Miller said $82 million from the first two rounds of funding had supported the construction of roughly 3,350 units of housing.
“If you look in the context of the total permits on an annual basis for the state of Indiana, those are impressive numbers to bring housing stock to our communities,” said the Elkhart Republican.
An additional component of the bill would allow builders to use “private providers” if a municipality cannot accommodate an inspection request within ten days. Inspections could instead be performed by licensed architects, licensed engineers, certified building officials or certified home inspectors.
“The goal here is to try and take the burden off of (local units of government) without sacrificing quality or effectiveness,” Miller said.
Using a private provider would likely be more expensive, however, since government-employed inspectors have more legal protections than private inspectors. Seven other states allow private providers to perform inspections, Miller added.
The provision would be optional, Miller said, and communities were free to supply homebuilders with approved lists of private providers.
The language about these inspectors gave some pause, including Accelerate Indiana Municipalities, which testified as neutral on the bill. That group testifies on behalf of Indiana cities and towns. West Lafayette Democrat Rep. Chris Campbell was the sole ‘no’ vote due to this provision but said she was open to changing her vote on the House floor.
Seven other groups testified in favor of the bill, including the state home builder association, architects and medical device manufacturers.
Maggie Shane, on behalf of the Indiana Association of Realtors, reported that the median home price in Indiana had grown to $244,000 while new builds cost closer to $379,000.
“Those are astounding — astonishing, I would say — numbers when it comes to thinking about how attainable is homeownership and will that continue to be the American dream,” Shane said. “New, single-home construction demand is such that we anticipate between now and 2028 a demand for 143,000 new single-family homes. That is 30% more than the rate we’re at right now.”
The bill advanced on an 11-1 vote and will now be heard before the House Ways and Means Committee.