Housing: Advance equity, public health outcomes, and economic growth by supporting public and private strategies to expand and maintain the supply of affordable housing options

• Homeownership: State and local government strategies to incentivize homeownership growth, especially in Black and brown communities, should include low-barrier, low-interest loan products and home repair resources as well as first-time homeowner education programs
• Rental Assistance: State and local governments must redouble efforts to deploy federal relief dollars dedicated to rental assistance to enhance housing security and maintain the supply of affordable rental units
• Eviction Prevention: Reduce eviction rates through tenant and landlord education on rights, responsibilities, and resolution strategies; mediation services for housing retention; legal representation in eviction proceedings and other services to address barriers to stable housing

Brownfields: Accelerate community reinvestment and accessible employment opportunities in and around brownfield sites, driving economic development and maximizing property values by:

• Restoring funding to Indiana Finance Authority’s Brownfield Grant Program, adding IFA staff capacity to administer the program, reduce wait times and extend technical assistance efforts
• Expanding grant and loan resources for “Phase I” and “Phase II” environmental site assessments for former brownfields
• Creating tax incentives based on employment on former brownfield sites
• Expanding flexibility of a redevelopment commission to sell or transfer a title to real property which is undeveloped, underdeveloped, or considered blighted due to the real or perceived threat of environmental contamination for private development

Stellar Communities: Support continued investment and rural communities and small towns across Indiana by strengthening and expanding the Indiana Stellar Communities program, emphasizing increased technical assistance and capacity-building towards brownfield remediation and redevelopment

Shovel-Ready Redevelopment: Support shovel ready community redevelopment efforts through the creation of a statewide grant program to fund the demolition of blighted commercial properties

Revitalization Grants and Revolving Loan Fund: Allow local governments the ability to make grants and loans to private enterprise for the creation of jobs or otherwise stimulate economic activity

Food Access & Insecurity: Support innovative efforts to increase access to healthy food options and strategies to improve food security to support the health of Indiana residents and workforce – for example, the ‘healthy food initiative’ funded in the FY2022-23 budget supporting a community-driven public-private partnership with the Cook Group to open a new grocery store on the northeast side of Indianapolis.

Empower and enable innovative and proven food distribution models, alternative payment processes, and data collection on food access and insecurity