Report outlines how hard it is to find affordable rentals in Indianapolis

The rental market is tough for people trying to find affordable housing in Indianapolis.

A new report from the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana finds, on average, Marion County renters are paying $200 to $300 more per month since the pandemic started.

FHCCI Executive Director Amy Nelson said a lack of safe, affordable units is also a major challenge.

“Particularly for those who might be low to moderate income renters who need more affordable units, the units simply aren’t there,” Nelson said.

While the city has added 3,800 rental units, only about 300 are affordable to people making $35,000 or less per year. 

“So these newly constructed buildings which are so in need, just simply aren’t affordable,” Nelson said.

Wages are up four to five percent but not enough to close the gap.

The report details how the challenges are more difficult for families with three or more children as well as Black and Brown households.

In 2020, about half of Marion County renters were cost burdened, paying 30 percent or more of their income on rent.

Nelson said the analysis finds eviction filings are back up to near pre-pandemic levels.

“We also outlined some of the top evicting companies and what we found was that they have been increasing the rent as well,” Nelson said.

Eviction filings average 400-600 a week. Indiana has some of the highest evicting cities in the country, according to reports from Eviction Lab.

Recommendations include more balance in tenant/landlord relations, removal of barriers to people using public assistance and additional investor requirements for out-of-state landlords.

Contact WFYI managing editor for daily news Doug Jaggers at djaggers@wfyi.org. Follow on Twitter: @WFYIDoug.