Low-Income Housing in Indiana, Part 1 of 3: A Long Waiting List

Finding and keeping affordable housing can turn into an ongoing battle for many Hoosiers. If income is spent disproportionately on housing, that means less money spent on food, education, and medical expenses.

The federal housing choice voucher program provides a way for individuals and families on the margins to afford rent and avoid an eviction, or even homelessness. In the first of a three-part series, Indiana Public Broadcasting’s Emilie Syberg reports on how families find themselves on waiting lists to receive those vouchers.

Subsidized housing is often referred to by the term “section 8”. That refers to an amendment to the Housing Act of 1937 that authorizes housing assistance to low-income households. Those awarded housing choice vouchers pay 30% of their gross income towards housing costs, and the voucher covers the rest.

AURAND: “For many low wage workers, their wages are just too low to afford the rental housing that’s in the market without some type of assistance.”

 That’s Andrew Aurand, vice president of research at the National Low Income Housing Coalition. His group estimates the “housing wage” required to pay rent and utilities in Indiana is $15.17 per hour, working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. That’s based on the average fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment—$789.

The minimum wage in Indiana? Less than half that figure — $7.25 an hour.

Housing vouchers can be used at any property a landlord agrees may participate in the program.

Housing authorities ultimately assess a household’s specific voucher needs based on household size and income. They can also apply what’s called a “preference”, a way to filter and assess the waitlist in a more targeted way, based on the area in which the housing authority is stationed. There are preferences for veterans, for those with disabilities, and for victims of domestic abuse—all groups whose earning options can be more limited. Greater Lafayette YWCA Domestic Violence Program director Becky Wellner says the people with she works often lack the safety net of friends and family other households might have.

WELLNER:  “So many of our clients have not just one child, but lots of kiddos, and if they’re not in school, you’re not only working a minimum wage job that is never going to be enough for you to pay your rent on your own, but then you also have to pay for childcare.”

A 2016 study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that 8% of Hoosiers utilizing vouchers were elderly, 22% had disabilities, and three-fourths were families with children. While some voucher households might be experiencing a moment of crisis that throws off their financial equilibrium and eventually subsides—like a divorce or death in the family—some live in a chronic state of poverty that doesn’t allow them to save money or make a plan, let alone grapple with unexpected costs or schedule changes.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition’s Andrew Aurand says even a small change can upset a delicate financial balance…

AURAND: “And so what happens of course is they’re spending more than half of their income on rent, and then if there’s an unexpected emergency, like they need to get a car repair, they have an unexpected medical bill, it’s very easy to fall behind on rent.”

The Lafayette Housing Authority specifies income limits for applicants who fall into two categories: “Very Low Income” and “Extremely Low Income”.  A one-person household in Tippecanoe County earning $13,150 annually is considered extremely low income. But according to data from the Lafayette Housing Authority, the average gross income of a household on the housing voucher waitlist is just 66-hundred dollars.

ADAM MURPHY: “I think some of the public perception that people kind of engineer their lives so that they can qualify for rent assistance is incredibly uninformed.”

Adam Murphy is the homeless outreach coordinator for the city of Lafayette.

MURPHY: “If you were to organize your life so that you could receive rent assistance, you’re saying no to so many good things on purpose, and that just doesn’t add up.”

Murphy manages housing assistance for people who are chronically homeless in conjunction with a mental health or substance abuse issue, or HIV/AIDS.

On the spectrum of people battling housing insecurity, Murphy works with those whose barriers to stability mean they require help through every step of the process.

But getting a voucher is also dependent on the system – and can take time. In some cases, a long time. First, a city has to keep its waitlist open. Gary and Indianapolis have closed theirs due to high demand. Tippecanoe County’s is open, but families wait, on average, almost a year to receive their voucher.

And that doesn’t take into account the time spent waiting to APPLY for the voucher. The Lafayette Housing Authority accepts applications for just two hours PER MONTH — on the first Wednesday of every month, between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. And getting on the list also requires bringing in documents like social security cards and birth certificates for every household member before the application is processed.

The L-H-A’s waitlist is currently 777 households long.