Evansville invests in affordable housing; here's when the builds could be completed

This week, the Evansville City Council approved $2 million to help Habit For Humanity of Evansville build 29 new homes and $1.9 million for KCG, Inc. to construct a new 50-unit apartment building on Bond Street.

Rules for ARP require the money be used within a certain amount of time, which means the projects will be complete by 2026. But officials expect completion to be much sooner.

Executive Director of the Department of Metropolitan Development Kelley Coures said assuming KCG is awarded its low-income tax credit application in November, the project should take less than 18 months to build.

The build will take place on Bond Street land between Third and Fourth streets, which is owned by the Evansville Redevelopment Commission.

Coures said the project will cost about $14 million in total, and this allocation of ARP funds will be the city's contribution.

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Habitat Executive Director Beth Folz said they also don't expect to have any issue meeting that 2026 deadline. She expects it to take more like 15 months.

Folz said as soon as they get the money they'll put it to work building homes. The city's $2 million will be combined with $2.3 million from Habitat donors.

In 2022, Habitat closed on 27 homes. Folz said the goal every year is at least 20.

"We're trying to figure out how to build faster and more," she said. "Because we could probably qualify 50 families a year if we have the money and the families are there."

Habitat is currently working in Evansville's Tepe Park neighborhood, where 24 homes are being built. Folz said they'll likely head back to Jacobsville or the CHAIN neighborhood, which is the Cedar Hall area.

Evansville's need for housing

According to the 2023 Housing Needs Assessment completed by Bowen National Research, the city needs more housing.

The housing need was for around 2,812 new rental units in the city over the next five years. That's up slightly from the 2,517 Bowen reported in 2022.

The report also states nearly 45% of "cost-burdened" renter households are paying a large part of their income toward housing, likely because there is not enough affordable rental housing.

Bowen also found the city has a "significant" shortage of homes for sale.

Evansville has a need for for-sale housing over the next five years of as many as 3,048 units. That's a slight decline from 2022.

"Most of this housing need is split between moderate income households earning between $41,851 and $66,960 and those earning more than $66,960," the report states.