Over 40 concerned citizens gathered at First Friends Indianapolis Tuesday, July 28, to hear Rabbi Aaron Spiegel speak on the affordable housing crisis in Indiana. The event was sponsored by The Shalom Zone, an association of local churches that welcomed Rabbi Spiegel as executive director of the Greater Indianapolis Multifaith Alliance and noted advocate on the topic.
Rabbi Spiegel shared startling statistics on evictions, housing affordability, and homelessness in Indiana. Beyond just the numbers, he related telling insights. The most common age to experience eviction in America is during childhood. Corporate investors–namely, private equity (i.e., hedge funds), especially from out of state–have a larger presence as landlords in Indiana than in almost any other state. For them, eviction is part of their business model, and they are cycling millions of dollars out of Indiana’s economy. Indiana is one of only six states that does not give tenants the legal right to off-set or escrow rent to enforce their lease contract with their landlord. About 85% of small claims court cases in Indiana are eviction cases, where tenants are rarely represented by lawyers and can be evicted in a proceeding lasting just minutes, as little as ten days after notice from their landlord.
Rabbi Spiegel described a state legislature that has been resistant to proposed legislation improving renters’ rights or slowing down the evictions machine in our courts. He has worked tirelessly with other advocates (including IFCL) over the past four legislative sessions, introducing bi-partisan bills to improve landlord-tenant law in Indiana. These bills receive some sympathy in private, but none has received a hearing. The Indiana Apartment Association is on record as saying, “We will never support rent escrow.” It is also the largest contributor to Republicans in the Indiana General Assembly. For his part, Gov. Braun doesn’t seem to care much; changing the legal status quo in this arena is apparently not a priority for him.
GIMA’s goals are to improve the housing supply and tackle evictions. About 67% of people in Indiana are renters, not homeowners, and the acute shortage of affordable housing combined with escalating rents is driving people and even businesses from our state. Rabbi Spiegel urges advocates to “pound the economic issue” with our elected leaders. Township trustees could play a vital role in renter emergencies, but they’re not doing their jobs, and funds often sit untapped in township “poor relief” funds.
Rabbi Spiegel described eviction court-watching as “our best weapon.” Any citizen can participate. There are groups such as the Eviction Diversion Initiative that organize this. Court-watching provides data collection where there is none presently. As a result of exposure of the eviction mill by court watchers, some judges are becoming more favorably disposed toward “pay and stay” and other legal solutions in a judge’s toolbox to keep tenants off the street. But legal remedies remain few for tenants and plentiful for landlords in the absence of reform legislation.
There is one new initiative in Central Indiana, Streets to Home Indy. This is a “housing-first” project with support services targeted to chronically unhoused people in homeless encampments. Notwithstanding the City of Indianapolis’s publicity and some city money the first year, this is largely a faith-driven initiative with 75% private philanthropy. Church fundraising will be important. The faith community has pledged to raise $270,000 this year. There is a three-year goal for the project of $50 million. More information about the project is available at mailto:aspeigel@indymultifaith.org.
Lively Q&A punctuated the evening. Rabbi Spiegel recommended several valuable resources:
- Fran Quigley’s new book, Lessons from Eviction Court: How We Can End Our Housing Crisis
- Gregg Colburn’s book, Homelessness is a Housing Problem
- Documentary film, Beyond the Bridge: A Solution to Homelessness.
The housing situation in our state is dire and getting worse. But in a room of people with the faith that this is a fixable problem about which there should be no partisan difference, Rabbi Spiegel informed, connected and inspired us.