Today Bloomington Dedicated its Newest Workforce Housing Neighborhood

Today Mayor John Hamilton; Council Member Stephen Volan; Trinitas Ventures Project Engineer, Alex Bollero; Director of Real Estate Development, Bloomington Housing Authority (BHA), Nathan Ferreira, and members of the Bloomington community joined to cut the ribbon on 45 “shovel ready” lots slated for workforce housing home ownership in Bloomington.

The Arlington Park development on Bloomington’s northwest side was approved in March 2020 by the Bloomington City Council and Mayor Hamilton, through Ordinance 20-04. The 41-acre site contains 334 rental units with an additional 45 lots ready for home ownership development. Through negotiations with the city administration and confirmed with Council, the developer of the rental units agreed to deliver to the City, at no cost, the 45 buildable lots, with infrastructure already in place. 

The City plans to partner with Summit Hill Community Development Corporation, the land trust affiliated with the Bloomington Housing Authority, to take ownership of the lots and work with developers of permanently affordable homes. The zoning for the area will allow single family, duplex, and triplex housing types, consistent with traditional pre-World War II neighborhoods that incorporate mixed housing types, alleys, and accessory dwelling units (ADUs).  

“Over the past eight years Bloomington has added hundreds of units of workforce rental housing. With the Arlington Park development, we’re focusing on home ownership opportunities for qualifying families,” said Mayor John Hamilton. “This neighborhood will offer a very desirable mix of housing types and styles to own, and we’re delighted to join the robust partnerships that are making this happen.”

The Community Land Trust, established by Summit Hill Community Development Corporation, will oversee development. Habitat for Humanity and Clear Creek Homes have partnered with Summit Hill to build homes in the coming months. Bloomington Transit expanded Route 10 to include bus service to the area. 

A community land trust creates homeownership opportunities for low- to moderate-income households and utilizes a shared-equity model to ensure permanent affordability. An information session to learn more about how to purchase a home in Arlington Park will be held on Thursday, October 19, 2023, 5:30-6:30 p.m. at the downtown Monroe County Library, 303 E Kirkwood Ave, room 2B.

Workforce housing is aimed toward families and individuals whose income generally is higher than what qualifies for much federally subsidized affordable housing, but still face challenges affording market-rate housing. Typically this means household income that lies between 80% and 120% of the area median income (AMI). More information about the City of Bloomington’s efforts to create attainable housing for our residents can be found at bloomington.in.gov/housing/affordable.