Editor's note
Sam Carpenter, who leads the Hoosier Environmental Council, brings us up-to-date on issues faced in the latest legislative session. Check it out at the Who Gets What? podcast available at mortonjohn.libsyn.com.
Here’s the headline: “Shelters full, a mom and her 5 kids now sleep in broken-down car.” It’s from the San Antonio Express News, but it could be in Anytown, USA. It is the story of people in distress, without the funds for temporary or permanent accommodations.

This particular story is also about organizations with rules preventing them from providing assistance. This family has been sent onto the streets when they exceeded the occupancy time limits of some shelters. They also have been denied space because they were not from Bexar County, Texas, where San Antonio is located.

It’s a story that is different from the Chronically Unhoused who have other causes of their unsafe, impermanent housing. Yet, both are legitimate aspects of a real housing crisis.

This is not to be confused with the Disappointment of Housing Aspirations which is likewise awarded the title of Crisis. I don’t know if realtors, developers, property owners and home builders advance Disappointment as a Crisis. Nonetheless, they all benefit from the media attention given to that Disappointment.

TV has the young couple who want “a home of their own, not an apartment.” For them an apartment is not a home. Only a single family dwelling on a lot that needs mowing will qualify. Whatever number of rooms they currently occupy, they are too few.

“Are they intending to have children?” How dare you ask? Obviously, more room may be “needed” for their hobbies, comfort, marital harmony, ability to accommodate visitors, self-image or work. So many reasons, so little room.

But they are not alone in this crisis comedy. America and Indiana have growing numbers and growing percentages of persons living alone. These may be persons of any age, any marital status, occupying a house, a condo, or an apartment. They too may wish they had more room, a better view, a finer neighborhood. But, with a budget constraint or an aversion to effort, they remain in place. Unrealized aspirations are a national plague, but not a housing crisis.

Some people already choose to share their homes with unrelated, other persons. They rent and/or share domestic responsibility. This reduces the pressure of the housing crisis. Instead of building more housing, we could encourage this form of occupancy by creating Cohabitation Income Tax Credits at the national and/or state level.

This is that BOLD step Hoosiers seek. A reduction in the escalation of housing prices, a savings of land and infrastructure costs, plus improved survival rates for those living alone without on-site assistance in an emergency. What are we waiting for?
Morton J. Marcus is an economist formerly with the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. His column appears in Indiana newspapers, and his views can be followed his podcast.

© 2025 Morton J. Marcus

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