A Nail in the Coffin

This week, the Bloomington city (common) council voted yes on amendment 2 of the UDO (unified development ordinance), which allows residential properties that are zoned as “single family” to be converted to a “plex” meaning there can be multiple residences on that property.

It has caused a large outcry with many, for reasons I completely understand. I will try to outline my points of view with this post.

The city of Bloomington has for as long as I can remember, and for as long as we’ve had a university presence, had issues with housing. In the beginning the students stayed with families who had extra space, paying them for their trouble; and helping out with their household.

The price of housing for those not affiliated with the university, the life long residents; has been out of line with the earned wages in the community for as long as I have a memory. My mother would move constantly simply because the price of her rent would increase; sometimes by $100 a month.

Fast forward 30 years. We are in a housing crisis. It is almost impossible to find an apartment under $700 a month. There is an entire industry of apartment complexes that rent by the bedroom to mask the true amount the apartment rents for, which in many cases is $2500.

Most of the construction happening in our area is focused directly to the student population; one that typically does not have to worry about the normal struggles life brings. Beginning in the late 1990’s, this construction has filled our downtown area with an ugly form of architecture that is plaguing our country. I call it “The future ruins of Bloomington” as an ode to what the Bloomington of my youth was called. There has been no sign of it letting up either.

Those who can afford to purchase a home keep facing an ever upward trending slope of pricing that invites those coming from the coasts as “cheap” and “affordable”, directly pricing those who live and work here out of the market. Many are forced to the surrounding counties to find affordable housing.

When I do the math; I cannot afford a more expensive place than what I have lived in for the past 15 years. AND I MAKE THE MOST I EVER HAVE. Almost double the median income level for Bloomington per The US Census. The only way to increase my income in my job title is to move to San Francisco or Washington D.C. Meanwhile, a home just up the road from me that had been abandoned for years was flipped. It was purchased for $60k, and placed on the market after remodeling it for more than 10x the original purchase price! They have since dropped the original asking price by $80k, and for all purposes the home no longer appears to be for sale.

While wages have increased significantly in the area; the housing market has increased even more. There’s no chance to get ahead, many are forced to choose between food or electricity, etc.

While the more affluent neighborhoods of Bloomington, with their historical and stately homes will not be affected by the UDO and plexes, the poorer ones are under direct and immediate attack. Those working class neighborhoods will be priced out of the homes they worked hard for due to a mix of tax rates and plexes increasing the values of the area to a point where they can no longer afford to live there.

Due to the Indiana state legislature’s all out attack on “home rule”, the city officially does not have many tools in their toolbox to give assistance or regulate housing costs. They clearly saw this as a method to help ease the ever increasing pressure on our local housing market. When your only choices aren’t what you ideally want; but something that helps – I get it. I just believe it’s a wrong move, one that will dramatically change the nature and character of the city in coming years.

This gives monied interests another tool to continue the plundering of the city for their own financial gain. Instead of remodeling a home; turn it into a quad-plex and make 4 times as much!

At the same time; Annexation is on again. So these policies will move to other areas that are ripe for that sort of development if it passes.

I still can’t help but see these policies as a sign from the city that they are broke. The debits are more than the credits. Prior to all of this, the Mayor pushed to increase the income tax rate for the entire county; to which the city council has a majority vote on. All other boards put out messages of non-support; and the city council did not put up enough votes to make it happen.

Yet, a 25 million dollar park with bond the city tax payers are paying for is a good use of money? A park that more and more, I see reports of issues with families encountering homeless shooting up heroin and or having sex in public bathrooms.

Which brings me back to my original point; our homeless population is exploding simply due to the sheer expense of housing. Yet the city is doing everything to attack them, not support them.

Please, sign me up. I totally want to be a part of this, said no person ever.