INDIANAPOLIS — An initiative in Howard County is turning decades-long vacant lots into new, affordable housing in the City of Kokomo.
Like many communities in central Indiana, Kokomo is experiencing a housing shortage.
The Kokomo Infill Program is a partnership between the City and the Kokomo Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit that works to revitalize low-income neighborhoods.
Mayor Tyler Moore took WRTV on a tour of some of the 130 available lots.
Many sat empty, collecting dust.
“We want folks to call Kokomo home or have single-family homes, finding this way to take vacant lots in certain neighborhoods around the city," Mayor Moore said.
The City will offer vacant lots to developers free of charge. Developers have one year to build a completed, residential structure.
25 homes are currently completed or under construction. 50 lots were made available this year.
“A lot of what these developers are designing and constructing do fit perfectly and correspond or complement the area in which they’re built," he said.
These new single-family homes on average range between $120,000 to $180,000.
Homeowners tell WRTV that without the program, they wouldn’t have been able to afford to own property of their own.
Mayor Moore hopes that in addition to creating more housing stock and beautifying the city, the program will boost the local economy.
“It’s going to continue to stimulate it. It takes properties that were previously not on the tax rolls, not gaining any tax revenue, giving it an assessed value or AV that then will translate into property taxes," he said.
