DeKalb County Housing Strategy
Updates
December 2022 - we have one-page data flyers available, data was taken from our Housing Study research and each community is highlighted.
Down Payment Assistance Program
Now Available in DeKalb County. Hoosier Homes is an Indiana Program that helps low and moderate-income individuals and families buy a home in approved areas of Indiana. Qualified home buyers receive up to 5 percent assistance for down payment an closing costs, plus a loan with competitive interest rate.
April 2022 - The County-Wide Housing Symposium had great attendance, community leaders and key stakeholders were presented the survey data. See the slides.
September 2021 - we sent out a survey to gather feedback from our workforce in the county. The brief survey is to help us identify where housing needs exist. All responses will remain anonymous. Data will be taken from this survey and used in our county-wide strategy.
June 2021 - the partnership launched a countywide housing strategy— a year-long process. The plan is “to take a formal analysis of where we stand, county wide, where our potential growth areas are, and how we can help incentivize and cultivate growth to meet our county housing demands,” King said. (https://www.kpcnews.com/thestar/article_b8d66cce-dfbd-5919-858c-75e6877bec74.html).
We have raised $43,000 of the $70,000 required to conduct the county-wide housing strategy. We have gathered a steering committee.
Historical Data
Recognizing the housing challenge across the region, the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership also completed a housing market analysis for Northeast Indiana in 2018. This regional analysis - conducted by the nationally-respected firm Zimmerman Volk - estimated the market could support development of 2,437-3,179 new housing units per year in the 10-county Northeast Indiana region. Based on its share of regional population, Zimmerman Volk forecast that DeKalb County could potentially capture 10.7% of this regional demand, or between 261-340 new housing units per year. The regional study further estimated that 40% of these new units would be occupied by new residents moving into DeKalb County from other locations. Using DeKalb County’s average household size of 2.52 persons/household (2018 estimate), this could result in 262-343 new residents/year, or 2,620-3,430 new residents/decade. As noted in the Board retreat (and included in the attached slide deck), DeKalb County’s population increased by 2,600 residents in only 3 decades in its history - the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1990’s.
