DALEVILLE – Even as the Town of Daleville pursues plans to build and expand, it faces a basic problem: more people work in Daleville than live there.
"We double in size during the day and those people leave and go elsewhere at night," Daleville Town Council President Tom Roberts said. "It’s why we invest in the park and the new downtown."
Officials hope a proposed apartment complex could be one piece to a changing community.
Hundreds of workers at the Heartland Business Center and other areas along Ind. 67 commute to Daleville for work, but they don’t live in the town. A look at Daleville’s housing stock suggests one potential reason why: because there are not many options, which hinders the potential for increasing the number of Daleville residents.
Census data from 2014 shows a stagnant population for Daleville, which has had roughly 1,600 residents since 1990. Trends year-to-year show Daleville's population could be on the decline, although the number was fewer than three or four people a year. Working to increase population is at the core of the town's downtown initiatives.
The census data showed one other interesting thing about the town. Daleville has around 32 percent of its housing in rental units, just three percentage points below Delaware County as a whole, but the rental vacancy rate was so low that it registers at zero. Vacant homes are also below the countywide average.
And that's where the town's latest effort comes in. A proposed $8.4 million project, known as Salem Place Apartments, could bring 64 apartments to the growing community. These low-income housing apartments would be built in Daleville’s downtown near Sixth Street, in part on town-own land where the former Lions Club building sits.
“Daleville has been dormant for 20 years, and we are just breaking out of that,” council member Bill Walters said in an earlier interview about the proposed apartments.
At the end of February, the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority announced that RealAmerica Development would receive tax credits for the new housing development. RealAmerica has similar apartments built in Fort Wayne and other Indiana communities.
“We see that the market is there and that Daleville is a desirable place to live,” said Jeff Ryan, Vice President of Development with RealAmerica. The company will complete three market studies to confirm at every step that there is a market for the apartments.
The low-income apartments meet a niche in Daleville. For a single-person apartment the income is capped at $23,100 for eligibility, while a four-person family on one income qualifies for a cap of $32,940 in 2015 qualifiers. These income brackets constitute nearly 42 percent of the current population in Daleville. The income caps are expected to raise with the numbers from 2016.
Daleville’s median household income is $40,795.
The housing is made affordable through a Section 42 tax credit program. While some residents in Daleville voiced concern about Section 8 housing, these two programs are separate from each other and can't be mixed.
Resource: http://www.thestarpress.com
"We double in size during the day and those people leave and go elsewhere at night," Daleville Town Council President Tom Roberts said. "It’s why we invest in the park and the new downtown."
Officials hope a proposed apartment complex could be one piece to a changing community.
Hundreds of workers at the Heartland Business Center and other areas along Ind. 67 commute to Daleville for work, but they don’t live in the town. A look at Daleville’s housing stock suggests one potential reason why: because there are not many options, which hinders the potential for increasing the number of Daleville residents.
Census data from 2014 shows a stagnant population for Daleville, which has had roughly 1,600 residents since 1990. Trends year-to-year show Daleville's population could be on the decline, although the number was fewer than three or four people a year. Working to increase population is at the core of the town's downtown initiatives.
The census data showed one other interesting thing about the town. Daleville has around 32 percent of its housing in rental units, just three percentage points below Delaware County as a whole, but the rental vacancy rate was so low that it registers at zero. Vacant homes are also below the countywide average.
And that's where the town's latest effort comes in. A proposed $8.4 million project, known as Salem Place Apartments, could bring 64 apartments to the growing community. These low-income housing apartments would be built in Daleville’s downtown near Sixth Street, in part on town-own land where the former Lions Club building sits.
“Daleville has been dormant for 20 years, and we are just breaking out of that,” council member Bill Walters said in an earlier interview about the proposed apartments.
At the end of February, the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority announced that RealAmerica Development would receive tax credits for the new housing development. RealAmerica has similar apartments built in Fort Wayne and other Indiana communities.
“We see that the market is there and that Daleville is a desirable place to live,” said Jeff Ryan, Vice President of Development with RealAmerica. The company will complete three market studies to confirm at every step that there is a market for the apartments.
The low-income apartments meet a niche in Daleville. For a single-person apartment the income is capped at $23,100 for eligibility, while a four-person family on one income qualifies for a cap of $32,940 in 2015 qualifiers. These income brackets constitute nearly 42 percent of the current population in Daleville. The income caps are expected to raise with the numbers from 2016.
Daleville’s median household income is $40,795.
The housing is made affordable through a Section 42 tax credit program. While some residents in Daleville voiced concern about Section 8 housing, these two programs are separate from each other and can't be mixed.
Resource: http://www.thestarpress.com
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