INDIANAPOLIS — Finding a place to live without breaking the bank is a concern that Pastor Matt Landry has heard from several Indianapolis residents.
"We do have a number of apartment complexes near the church and within the congregation and within the local community that are affected by this every single day," said Landry.
"Prices are high," said Diane Holley.
Diane Holley is in the process of looking for an affordable place now but she hasn't had any luck.
"Most places I've looked at is like from $750 and up to like $1,500 a month and I think that's too high by the time you get paid you pay rent you ain't got money to buy no food or pay bills. I can't even buy clothes when i want to stuff too high," said Holley.
Pastor Landry says the higher cost of living is being felt by many.
"So many churches including our own have people who call weekly and more who need assistance and nobody should have to worry about paying for rent or groceries for their families and this is just an ongoing issue within our community as a whole," said Landry.
With inflation, the National Low Income Housing Coalition found there is a shortage of nearly 140,000 affordable rental homes for Hoosiers.
Because of the demand for help, Castleton United Methodist Church off Shadeland Ave. and 71st street decided to host forums called "Inadequate Housing Conversations" with local and state leaders once a month through the summer.
Housing and violence is the topic for Tuesday, June 4th.
IMPD's police chief and the U.S. attorney will be there to talk about how housing can be a root cause of violence among teens.
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"We are hoping that people will understand there are resources available while also recognizing that we are all one paycheck from a situation like this. There are so many of us you might have secure housing for the moment and then the next you don't so trying to change the stigma around housing insecurity and opening peoples eyes to that while trying to make connections for people," said Landry.
Tuesday's forum will be held at the Castleton United Methodist Church at 6:30 p.m. It's free and open to the public.
