This story was originally published by Capital B Gary.
By Calvin Davis
Capital G Gary
July 12, 2024
Clarice Henderson couldn’t shake the feeling that her home was falling apart.
“The floors were dead; you would walk into a dip in the floor everywhere, even the bathroom. Every time we sat on the toilet, I thought we would fall through,” the Gary resident recalled, describing the difficulties of being a tenant with an absent, out-of-state landlord.
Like many Gary residents and Hoosiers across the state, Henderson has been grappling with what Indiana housing advocates describe as a statewide housing crisis. Her alleged issue and the plight of tenants dealing with absentee landlords are emblematic of broader housing problems that have driven a coalition of Hoosiers from Gary and throughout the state to appeal to Indiana’s top official for help.
Their list of housing complaints includes exorbitant rental rates, unsafe living conditions, and inadequate code enforcement. In response, the Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition and nearly 500 supporters have petitioned Gov. Eric Holcomb to form a Commission on Housing Safety, Stability, and Affordability to address these critical concerns. Holcomb’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment. In their letter, the HHNC defines the crisis as a shortage of safe, healthy, and affordable homes accessible to the most vulnerable Hoosiers and their communities.
“The pricing and affordability of houses impact those who are older, but it also burdens people of color, people who are renting, and people with low incomes at a much higher rate, so Gary specifically is feeling the impact,” said Emily Gorman, Indiana AARP’s associate state director of advocacy and outreach, who works directly with communities in Gary and Fort Wayne.
According to census data, 32% of Gary residents live in poverty, which is significantly higher than the 12.3% statewide average, while nearly 13,000 city residents are 65 or older.
Furthermore, Gary ranks among the most expensive areas in the state to live when comparing housing costs to median income, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Gary’s economic numbers paint a dismal picture. According to their most recent 2024 report, Gary residents need an annual income of $50,160, an hourly wage of $24.12, or to work more than three jobs at minimum wage to afford a two-bedroom, fair market-rate home. The median household income for Gary residents is currently $36,153.
“For the first time in recent history, less than a third of Indiana’s Top 20 largest occupations pay wages sufficient to meet the state’s Housing Wage,” said Andrew Bradley, senior director of policy and strategy at Prosperity Indiana. “Only a quarter of Hoosiers working in the state’s most popular occupations earn enough on average to afford rent.”
The creation of a Commission on Housing Safety, Stability, and Affordability, the Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition writes in their letter to Holcomb, would bring together groups currently tackling the housing crisis but are working in silos. The commission would aim to align existing housing resources and initiatives at the state and local levels.
State Representative Earl Harris Jr., D-East Chicago, hopes Holcomb appoints the commission but realizes the governor’s brief remaining time in office could be an obstacle.
“I think we have to face the reality that he’s coming down to the last six months of his term. Part of the question might be, does he want to put something in place knowing he won’t be governor to see it through,” Harris Jr. told Capital B Gary.
During the 2024 legislative session, housing was the chief priority for the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus, said Harris, who chairs the caucus and represents a district that includes a portion of Gary. Their agenda titled, “Fair Housing, Fair Futures,” emphasized making housing more affordable and accessible.
“This is a huge issue for people,” said Harris. “Whether you own or whether you rent, housing has just become harder.”
In Gary, local nonprofits continue to battle against rising costs to help community members attain homeownership.
Dawn Michaels, executive director of Northwest Indiana Habitat for Humanity and a co-signer of the letter, emphasized the critical need for accessible housing.
“One of the major concerns in Lake County is the lack of affordable housing and the exorbitant rates for rentals,” explained Michaels, whose nonprofit has built homes on the 1700 and 1800 blocks of Adams Street in Gary.
“With Habitat, we build and sell the house. Many struggling, working families are living paycheck to paycheck. So any type of affordable housing is critical. If we can move them out of a rental or high rent situation and into an affordable, energy-efficient home, then it’s a game changer because they are building wealth,” Michaels said.
Beyond affordability, the HHNC highlights safety as a principal concern in their letter, pointing to a disjointed patchwork of health and safety codes that makes enforcement difficult.
Michaels, who also sits on the Lake County Housing Task Force, pointed out the difficulties faced in the rental market.
“The other thing is some of the rental locations are substandard,” Michaels said.
“A lot of the towns and cities are lacking in some of the code enforcement for landlords. And so, how do they enforce that when the landlord might be in New Jersey or is a management firm out of New York? If they don’t have the jurisdiction, how can they enforce something? It’s unfortunate.”
Henderson said her landlord lived on the West Coast and never saw the conditions with his own eyes.
“The tub had a dip in it,” she said. “There were storm doors on the doors, but they didn’t go all the way to the ground. A small puppy could still crawl under there.”
“I doubt most of these houses could even pass inspection, but they’re able to rent them out,” she continued. “And yet we have nobody to go to. And if we don’t know our rights, we’re stuck.”
Capital B Gary contacted several apartment, landlord, and Realtor associations to discuss the challenges landlords face when renting to tenants and how they seek relief when encountering problems. The Indiana Apartment Association and Northwest Indiana Realtors Association did not respond to requests for comment. The Northwest Indiana Landlords Association could not be reached for comment.
Henderson expressed optimism about the prospect of a statewide commission dedicated to ensuring housing safety for renters.
“That would be amazing because we would be able to get something done,” she said. “We still have to pay rent. I paid $1,250 per month for nothing. No appliances, no nothing. We need something to go to when we pay our rent. We should be able to live in a functional home. The landlords put the responsibilities on us like we’re the owner. They’re not fixing anything.”
Henderson’s experience is not unique in Gary. Morgan Sheppard, a former tenant in the Miller neighborhood, faced her own set of challenges with an unresponsive landlord.
“I had issues with maintenance coming in unauthorized and with no warning,” Sheppard said.
“As a single female at the time, I had major problems with that. I could never reach the landlord and wasn’t 100% sure about what my rights were.”
Troubling issues have also surfaced in nearby communities where Gary residents often move in search of better living conditions. Just a few blocks outside of Gary, the owners of Hickory Ridge Apartments in Merrillville are facing a lawsuit by Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita for an alleged systemic failure to satisfy statutory landlord responsibilities.
Complaints ranged from lack of fire sprinklers to deteriorated doors to missing siding. Hickory Ridge’s former landlords, New York-based Roco Chetrit Enterprises LLC, listed as defendants in Rokita’s lawsuit, could not be reached for comment.
Cynthia Williams, the founder of Startup Gary Community Development Corporation, which also signed the letter to Governor Holcomb, points the finger at years of systemic racism as a perpetuator of housing inequality.
“It’s like we’ve become literally victims of extractive development. Everything is extractive. These people take the money, and they leave the community,” said Williams.
Williams emphasized the importance of advocating for quality housing in the community, highlighting the systemic issues in the housing market.
She explained that banks readily provide loans for rental properties due to the strong rental market but not for selling renovated homes, a situation she attributes to systemic racism.
“If we don’t fight for and advocate for our own community, even for the people who are forced into rental situations … we can’t do that because the small market is not able to sustain that,” Williams said.
“It’s a heavy story. It has layers and nuances, the basis of which is rooted in systemic racism.”
Calvin Davis is Capital B Gary’s government and politics reporter. You can reach Calvin at calvin.davis@capitalbnews.org.
Capital B is a local-national nonprofit news organization that centers Black voices, audience needs and experiences, and partners with the communities it serves.
