Indianapolis City-County Council President Bob Bosley told neighborhood leaders the city faces an acute shortage of affordable housing and said recent changes at the Indianapolis Housing Agency (IHA) have affected voucher distribution and housing access.

"We, as you know, have a multi thousand unit deficit when it comes to affordable housing in Marion County... some estimates are, you know, 30,000 units here in Marion County," Bosley said.

Bosley said federal oversight of the Indianapolis Housing Agency has slowed voucher distribution in the short term, but he expected refurbished units to come back online. He said a selection of management for seven IHA properties will be made by the end of the month, and that the city expects roughly an additional 500 IHA units to become available by the end of next year as properties are refurbished under new management.

On homelessness, Bosley described the "Streets to Home" initiative and said the program's first tranche was identified at $8,100,000 to safely move 350 people into permanent supportive housing. He said the city contributed about a third of that initial funding and is partnering with philanthropies and faith organizations.

"This is not a government issue alone," Bosley said. "We have philanthropies out here, we've got corporations out here, we've got the faith organizations out here. How are we doing this together?"

Bosley also noted the instability of some federal housing funding streams — he said officials expect "some shrinkage" in certain federal grants — and told MECANA he would supply a concise one-page breakdown so neighborhood leaders would have the specific numbers.

Meeting participants pressed Bosley for details on timelines and how the city plans to house 350 people in the initial Streets to Home phase and how to reduce reliance on federal funding. Bosley said the city will emphasize using existing housing stock (including rehabbing units through programs such as Vacant-to-Vibrant) and pairing city funding with private and philanthropic dollars to increase capacity.

"We will probably have an additional 500 units from IHA available... by the end of next year," Bosley said, and he committed to sending MECANA more detailed funding figures.