Standing outside downtown's Smallwood Plaza apartments, a complex geared toward college students with rents hovering around the $2000 mark, Bloomington Democratic mayoral candidate John Hamilton emphasized the importance of affordable housing for all city residents during a press conference Tuesday.
"This is a high-cost city, a very expensive city to get housing in," he said. "That means a lot of people struggle. A lot of these people are paying too much of their income for housing."
Hamilton presented a strategy that seeks to combat the city's expensive housing market.
Apartments in Bloomington cost on average $894 per month, according to the real estate firm Tikijian Associates.
Hamilton's four-part plan includes utilizing federally-funded supportive housing options, inclusionary zoning (new developments to provide units for people with lower incomes at lower than market price), and permanent affordability, which keeps the price of certain housing units low in perpetuity, in contrast to other restrictions that might expire after a decade.
Hamilton says he would encourage collaboration among nonprofits, city government and private residents to increase affordable housing options in Bloomington, whose housing market, he says, is increasingly shutting more people out.
"We've seen a lot of new development of housing that is very expensive," he says. "Over time it can be impossible for working families, hard-working folks, to live in Bloomington."
Hamilton has long been a champion of affordable housing, serving as the Founder and Director of City First Bank, which works to generate development in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.
Since 2013 Hamilton has been the president of the board at Bloomington's Shalom Community Center, which provides housing and resources to the homeless.
Hamilton's main opponent Darryl Neher says he agrees that affordable housing needs to be a priority for Bloomington.
"I have been working hard with my fellow council members on this issue as city council president and now in my campaign for mayor," Neher says. "Bloomington deserves a thoughtful debate on how we can make our city better for everyone."
