By Morton Marcus
For The Republic
Flora and Fred Fetid have been neighbors for decades. Today, they are giving me cautious advice. “Don’t do it,” Fred says. “Realtors will get defensive.”
“People our age will be offended,” Flora tells me. “Sparkle, that’s what folks want.”
Nonetheless, here goes. Indiana is now engaged in a war upon itself. We’re seeking to attract people to settle in our state. We’re looking for talented, well-educated earners from elsewhere and young people from here. But first we had to convince ourselves our workers were not well-prepared for today’s jobs and our communities were not appealing to young people.
As with other states, we’re emphasizing the current mantra, “Quality of place.” That’s the objective of $500 million in matching grants from the state to make my town and your town a more desirable place to live.
What we forget is housing, the starting point in living somewhere. If a significant part of your housing is unattractive to your targeted residents, your chance of hooking them is not good. An ice-skating rink and bars with pink vodka are far down the list of preferences after good housing.
Half of the occupied housing units in Indiana were built before 1975. That makes us the state with the 13th oldest housing stock. We are tied with Kansas, Vermont and West Virginia. Surprisingly, we are also tied with California.
“Old houses have charm and crown molding,” Flora says.
“And quirky furnaces,” Fred adds.
I proceed. Indiana has 304,000 units built before 1970. Of these older houses and apartments, 47% are occupied by people 65 or older. How attractive is that to the people we are trying to retain or attract? How much money, energy or interest do seniors have to bring a house up to contemporary standards?
Our problem is not that young people are leaving Indiana cities and towns. Rather, young people from elsewhere, even elsewhere in Indiana, are not choosing to live where their grandparents grew up.
“There’s nothing wrong with Jasonville,” Flora says.
“Yeah,” Fred says, “but can you still find a decent doughnut between Terre Haute and Bloomington?”
I continue. Not every young or retired homeowner has a passion for plumbing, carpentry, roofing and electrical work to fix up their homes. Those who have work-at-home jobs are handicapped if they have slow or no internet service.
“And businesses won’t pick places where there’s not adequate water pressure for fire protection,” Fred adds.
“You might think me strange,” Flora confesses, “but industrial smog does make for some beautiful sunsets.”
Is the state funding what might be nice, but stinting on the five fundamentals: Housing, Education, Connectivity, Health, and the Environment? It reminds me of something I’m told, I once said: “Sentiment leads to sediment.”
