South Bend to cut ribbon on first project in affordable housing effort
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South Bend Mayor James Mueller will join business and community leaders Wednesday for a ribbon cutting on the first of a number of new affordable housing units in a one-time industrial part of the city.
The newly built duplex at 616 Sherman Drive reflects the latest effort to increase housing availability in the city, according to CDFI Friendly South Bend, an organization that helps provide financing to small businesses, nonprofits and housing developers.
“Housing, specifically equitable, attainable housing, is a pressing need here in South Bend,” Mueller said in a news release. “We are very fortunate to have so many active community partners and outside-the-box thinkers who come to the table with creative, workable solutions to increase our housing availability and allow more families to call South Bend home.”
Construction is underway on additional housing units in the neighborhood, which had been a more industrial, mixed-use area just north of Lincoln Way on the west side of the city, the organization said.
A 2022 housing analysis commissioned by the City of South Bend outlined the challenges to homeownership affordability in the area. An “appraisal gap” between the cost of building a new home in most neighborhoods of the city versus the average sale price in those neighborhoods can deter homebuilders who look to the suburbs instead. The cost of new homes is unaffordable to most South Bend residents. And existing homes, while affordable, often need tens of thousands of dollars in repairs.
“Households on the lowest end of the income spectrum are the most squeezed,” the analysis said.
Partners in the Sherman Drive project include the city of South Bend, CDFI Friendly South Bend, Notre Dame Federal Credit Union, Borkholder Building & Supply, and Cinnaire, a nonprofit that supports affordable housing and community revitalization efforts.
“Cinnaire has been changing lives and transforming struggling neighborhoods in Indiana for more than 25 years,” said Keith Broadnax, a senior vice president in business development. “We have an unwavering belief that all people deserve the opportunities provided by living in healthy communities. The opportunity to transform this neighborhood from the industrial structures of yesterday to housing that meets the needs of the South Bend of today is a perfect example of why Cinnaire exists.”