By Dave Stafford
The Herald Bulletin
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ANDERSON — To see how stimulus dollars are changing neighborhoods in Anderson, drive down Sheridan Street, and the vicinity near Allen Chapel AME Church and Sherman Street Church of God north of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Clusters of new homes have risen, and dozens have been renovated nearby.
To hear how stimulus dollars are changing families, listen to Jennifer Lindsey, who with husband Thomas and their children moved into one of those Sheridan Street homes this past November.
“It’s like a dream,” Lindsey said. “I don’t have to ever worry about renting. The kids are going to grow up in a safe environment, a safe neighborhood.”
“And a happy environment,” chimed in her 14-year-old son, Michael Jordan Lindsey.
Stimulus funds also have changed city neighborhoods in what no longer can be seen: More than 100 houses in the city have been demolished through the program.
That’s the outcome of $4.9 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Funds that Anderson received through federal and state grants. Anderson’s Community Development Department has allocated nearly all the dollars received through the program, and must do so this month or return unspent dollars.
The program is not without its critics. Some puzzle at the notion of building six-figure homes in areas where average homes sell for a fraction of that amount.
Program dollars currently can be seen at work on 10th Street west of Madison Avenue, where the program is investing about $1.4 million.
On 10th Street, six new homes are under construction in the 1200-1500 blocks at an average cost of about $137,000. The city has acquired and will renovate another six abandoned houses built in the 1990s in the 1300 block at an average cost of $97,000 apiece.
That doesn’t sit well with Tom Jewell. An investor with more than 20 income properties in Anderson and Frankton, he said he made an offer to purchase and renovate some of the homes on 10th Street that was rejected before the city acquired them.
“I don’t believe a person should have to bid against the city. They’re using my money to buy the houses. ... There’s houses sitting empty all over the place, yet the city’s going in buying houses and refurbishing them,” Jewell said.
“The (new construction) houses are nice homes — they’re new homes — but they’ve used other people’s money to do it. How can I compete against the government when they use my money? ... It’s impossible.”
Anderson Community Development Director Debra King said she has heard arguments like those. But she said it has been lack of investment in areas hardest-hit by the real estate meltdown that created a need for public dollars to flow to those areas.
“If Community Development doesn’t do it, no one else is going to do it,” King said of public investment in some of the neighborhoods where NSP dollars are at work. She said the program by definition was designed to put money to work in census tracts that had been hardest-hit by foreclosures, abandoned properties and mortgages issued by subprime lenders.
She said the King West neighborhood where the Lindseys live is an area where the investment appears to be paying off in rising property values reflected in recent appraisals. “Because we concentrated our energies, it’s going to have a greater impact than scattered sites,” King said.
She noted it’s also caused other people in the neighborhoods where money has been invested to improve their properties.
The program also forged partnerships with groups such as Habitat for Humanity and Aspire Indiana, formerly the Center for Mental Health, King said. A range of housing — from single-family homes to specialized rental units — were renovated or built through the program, often meeting needs of partnering organizations.
Jennifer Lindsey said residents in the King West neighborhood take pride in the community. She said it’s diverse and a neighborhood group meets regularly. She emphasizes that her home and others have been built or remodeled with energy efficiency in mind. There’s a community garden. “I got tomatoes,” said daughter Kendra Lindsey, 12.
Lindsey and her husband both work, but have had to rent substandard homes in the past. “There was mold; the windows didn’t seal,” she said of her last place.
She was selected for the city’s homeownership program through Pathstone, a Muncie agency that qualifies eligible people. There are homeowner classes, credit counseling and monitoring and other programs to keep families stable in their new homes.
“It took us from a bad situation, a bad neighborhood, to a really, really good situation and a good neighborhood,” Lindsey said.
Her children agreed. “It rocks,” Jakob Lindsey said of the family’s home.
“You can’t ask for anything better,” said 14-year-old Tyler Lindsey.
Contact Dave Stafford: 648-4250, dave.stafford@heraldbulletin.com
