Regional leaders consider housing options that will include everyone
The housing landscape in Northwest Indiana is undergoing a fundamental transformation.
Historically rooted in single-family suburban development, the Region’s housing future stands at a crossroads.
Echoing communities across the nation, Northwest and North Central Indiana face affordability and density challenges, economic pressures, shifting demographics and changing commuter patterns.
“Housing is under stress throughout the entire country. By under stress, I mean affordability,” said Anthony Sindone, director of the Center for Economic Education and Research at IU Northwest. “We talk about there being a housing shortage. That depends on your perspective. There are plenty of houses out there. But people can’t afford them.”
The Region’s housing infrastructure is further strained by the influx of people moving to Indiana, which saw a net increase of about 30,000 residents in 2023. New employers are drawing workers into the area. Businesses, young professionals, retirees and families from Illinois are attracted to the state’s relative affordability.
Northwest Indiana’s population is expected to grow to 900,000 by 2050, according to the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission. That is about the size of Austin or San Francisco.
“In 2024, I saw an uptick of inquiries from people moving into the area and from existing Indiana residents,” said Chuck Vander Stelt, founder of Northwest Indiana real estate website Quadwalls. “Indiana is ripe to be picked. It’s the perfect fruit.”
With challenge comes opportunity.
“We need to think about changing the way we supply housing,” Sindone said. “We need to put our heads together and try to come up with solutions and creative policies.”
Local governments, planners, developers, nonprofits and residents are coming together to rethink how, where and for whom homes are built. They are weaving together housing solutions that prioritize place, connection and inclusion.
Through smart transit-focused growth, innovative collaborations and empathetic leadership, the Region’s leaders are redesigning the future of housing. The housing renaissance in Northwest Indiana is not just a response to demand but an ecosystem thinking ahead.
Data-driven planning
In 2025, Indiana University Northwest released a housing study authored by Sindone and Interim Dean Micah Pollak of the School of Business and Economics. It provided a detailed snapshot of housing in the seven-county Region.
Backed by READI grant funding, the study mapped housing inventory, assessed local markets and diagnosed gaps in affordability and housing types.
According to the study, a household needs a median annual income of $83,000 to afford the median priced house of $245,000 in Lake County. About 32% of households in Lake County earn at least $75,000. That means fewer than a third of households can afford the median-priced house in Lake County. Statistics in other counties, and across the U.S., are similar.
“There is limited housing stock when it comes to affordable housing for low- and moderate-income individuals,” said Diane Dalton, Peoples Bank community development officer. “And market rate housing keeps spiraling out of control when it comes to affordability.”
Sindone predicts that the days of building $450,000 houses are numbered.
“You have to take a holistic approach. You can’t just say here’s all this vacant land, let’s build housing,” he said. “People love big houses. The problem still remains that a lot of people can’t afford those $450,000 homes.”
Within the next 25 years, Lake, Porter and La Porte counties will need about 50,000 more homes, based on the NIRPC’s NWI 2050+ plan. The IU Northwest study recommended housing solutions to meet the two-fold challenge of affordability and demand.
“The Region currently has mostly single-family homes,” Dalton said. “To accommodate growth affordably, it is necessary to seek smaller-lot homes, infill and multi-unit housing near downtowns and transit corridors.”
Across Northwest Indiana, leaders are looking to this data to reshape the Region through a layered, collaborative approach. They have work to do.
“About 85% of Northwest Indiana’s housing stock is some form of single-family detached housing; about three-fourths of that is in large lot settings,” said Eman Ibrahim, NIRPC’s planning manager. “Only 16% of the housing stock in the Region consists of multifamily units, duplexes and townhomes.”
Drawing from the data, mayors in cities across the Region are championing dense, mixed-use development, infrastructure and revitalization. Their leadership is at the helm of change.
Vision and action
At the heart of the Region’s housing transformation lies transit.
Northwest Indiana is shifting away from its mid-20th-century model of isolated subdivisions and car dependency, moving toward a more integrated, sustainable and inclusive framework.
Once an afterthought to car-centric design, the Region’s commuter rail networks — the South Shore Line Double Track and the West Lake Corridor expansion — have moved from concept to catalytic infrastructure. Both projects stand poised to shape land use, urban density and housing opportunity. The West Lake Corridor, slated to open in late 2025, will connect Munster and Dyer to Hammond and Chicago, while the South Shore’s double-tracking project enhances capacity and reliability.
These transit developments are more than commuter improvements. They are the infrastructure around which a new model of housing is growing. City planners are creating transit development districts — compact, walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods centered around train stations.
The key to Hammond’s redevelopment strategy are the Hammond Gateway Transit Development District and the restoration of the historic Bank of Calumet into a 200-unit apartment complex called The Banc. The Banc aims to double in size with support from redevelopment tax credits. The city is negotiating two more developments — 600 units in total — in downtown Hammond.
“I’ve noticed a change in how developers approach downtown,” Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said. “It’s a good sign. It was never the case before the (transit development district).”
Quality of life considerations are also at play. Trails, arts, public space and connectivity are shaping neighborhoods, not just housing units. Leaders hope these communities will serve as magnets for new residents who want a balance of suburban living and urban convenience.
Projects like The Banc offer modern amenities within walking distance of downtown. McDermott said he’s seeing results.
“I was driving downtown, and I noticed the number of people out walking. They were enjoying the summer evening, eating at restaurants and gathering,” he said. “It was a really cool thing to see a vibrant and thriving downtown.”
Michigan City Mayor Angie Nelson Deuitch is embracing dense, mixed-use development that aligns with commuter rail expansion. A cornerstone project involves redeveloping the former South Shore train station site. The $101 million development will provide 220 market-rate apartment residences and 5,600 square feet of commercial space. The project emphasizes walkability, affordability and accessibility to services like grocery stores and child care — addressing long-standing gaps in community infrastructure.
Rethinking sites
Regional developers are also repurposing abandoned or underused spaces to meet housing needs.
In Munster, the former site of Munster Steel is being transformed into Centennial Village, a mixed-use development with apartments, shopping and entertainment. Legacy neighborhoods like East Chicago’s Marktown, originally built for steelworkers, are candidates for preservation and revitalization.
In Gary, Mayor Eddie Melton is spearheading a wide-ranging urban renewal strategy that places housing at the forefront. The city is working with the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture to explore downtown revitalization through housing and community renewal.
In August, the city kicked off the $12 million Gary Blight Elimination Program.
“We’re tearing down the abandoned structures plaguing the city and making them site-ready,” Melton said. “We’re investing in paving streets and upgrading streetlights. It’s making sites more appealing and more convenient for construction. We are working to make Gary a cleaner, safer and more resilient city.”
City officials are also considering the ages and needs of residents.
“We have a significant senior population living here,” Melton said. “We’re working to give them opportunities to age in place comfortably. They shouldn’t have to leave their city for options to downsize.”
Melton has pursued partnerships with developers and secured funding for large-scale redevelopment. The historic Palace Theatre in downtown Gary is being transformed into the $85 million Palace Lofts, which will offer about 250 residential units with commercial space on the ground floor. It’s a landmark that speaks of backward-looking preservation and forward-looking ambition.
Creative change
Regional planners are rethinking housing policies.
“Municipalities should update zoning to allow more housing types, such as duplexes, triplexes and accessory dwelling units,” Ibrahim said. “For new development, they should zone for mixed-use and higher density that allows diverse housing types.”
Accessory dwelling units are separate residences located on the same property as a single-family home.
Ibrahim suggests incentivizing rehab and adaptive reuse of older buildings and using land trusts or incentives to retain affordability.
“Provide incentives, utilities and infrastructure,” she said. “And include inclusionary housing policies or density bonuses.”
Sindone also advocates policy changes.
“Last year, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Rhode Island passed laws allowing spaces such as garages, backyards, basements and attics to be turned into ADUs,” Sindone said. “These units cost less to build than houses or apartments and can also provide inexpensive housing for nonrelatives.”
Microunits, one-bedroom units, offer another housing option. Microunits create housing for people who are single, couples without children and young renters. They supply basic space renters can personalize at an approachable price point.
A study by Pew and Gensler found that converting a Denver office building to microunits would cost $123,000 per unit, less than half of the $400,000 cost to turn it into studio apartments, in part because each room did not need its own bathroom and kitchen.
“It costs a lot of money to build houses,” Sindone said. “We need to drive down the cost per foot. We need to increase housing production, but we need to increase the right kind.”
Community change
Government officials aren’t working alone. They have ground-level support from nonprofits that are working to empower residents, protect homeownership and build new housing with compassion and financial guidance.
Organizations like the nonprofit Northwest Indiana Reinvestment Alliance are addressing housing and financial needs. They are expanding homeownership pathways and bolstering residents’ financial stability to help them remain in homes they might otherwise lose.
“NWIRA offers pre/post homeownership counseling, foreclosure prevention, financial coaching, fair housing training and more,” Dalton said. “It also coordinates the Lake County Housing Task Force with over 30 partner organizations to identify housing needs and drive collective solutions.”
Peoples Bank partners with FHLBank of Indianapolis, which has an affordable housing program. In 2024, FHLBank awarded $34.6 million in grants to 42 projects, supporting over 1,600 housing units, along with down payment, repair and first-time homebuyer programs.
“FHLBank Indianapolis provides crucial gap financing for affordable housing projects the market alone can’t fully fund — helping with acquisition, construction and rehabilitation,” Dalton said.
Dovetailing with the housing momentum are broader placemaking strategies through initiatives aimed at elevating downtowns, cultivating distinct neighborhoods and ensuring housing options that are diverse and affordable. The vision includes transit, cultural development, health care corridors and farm-to-table food systems — underscoring that homes don’t exist in isolation but within ecosystems of community.
“People relocating here have their pick of housing lifestyles,” Vander Stelt said. “Our housing market is insanely diverse. In one day, I can travel from cornfields to densely populated cities to suburban sprawl to Lake Michigan homes starting at $2 million.”
Throughout these threads, one message emerges: Northwest Indiana’s housing future rests on collaboration, innovation, identity and place. Regional planning provides the framework. Transit infrastructure offers the spine. Mayors and developers build the bones.
Northwest Indiana’s housing evolution is not about abandoning tradition for trend; it’s about integrating past and future. Historic neighborhoods, once designed with intention, are now becoming part of new, resilient urban fabrics, not forgotten relics. Transit corridors no longer divide but define neighborhoods. Senior residents and entry-level workers find homes in the same booming districts.
The Region’s strategies are built atop the existing housing landscape. Planners are working to create a more connected, affordable and inclusive housing future — one where communities flourish, infrastructure holds up and residents of all incomes can find a place to call home.
“This area is ripe for tremendous development. It isn’t always about taxes and rail lines. It’s about perceived quality of life,” Sindone said. “Young people leave in their 20s badmouthing Northwest Indiana. In their 30s, they come back. I liken it to parenting. They realize this is a pretty darn good place to live. So, let’s make it easier.” •
This article is published by Northwest Indiana Business Magazine with the support of the IU Northwest Center for Economic Education & Research. The magazine maintains its editorial independence.
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