Repair not demolish: Bloomington looks to add 1 to affordable housing inventory
The city of Bloomington is now looking to give a house it owns on West 3rd Street a continued life as a house, instead of demolishing it as planned.
On Tuesday, the city’s board of public works awarded a $61,561 contract with Rogers Remodeling to do repairs on the house at 2541 W. 3rd Street to get it back into livable condition.
It’s a 3-bedroom, 1-bath house with 1,120 square feet, on a one-third-acre lot.
The city wants to add the house to Bloomington’s affordable housing inventory. The description “affordable housing” refers to income restrictions that occupants have to meet, typically defined in terms of percentage ranges of the area median income (AMI).
Common ranges include <30% AMI; .30–50% AMI; 50–80% AMI; or 80–120% AMI.
Responding to an emailed question from The B Square, housing and neighborhood development (HAND) department director Anna Killion-Hanson wrote, “My intent is to get this [house] in occupiable condition and utilize it as an affordable housing unit with an affordable covenant.”
The city government has owned the house since 2008, when it was purchased for $200,000 as part of the right-of-way acquisition for a major road expansion along West 3rd Street. Among other things, the project installed medians with tree plantings where there had been no medians at all.
At Tuesday’s meeting, public works director Adam Wason said that immediately after the house was purchased, it served as the construction office for the road project. After that, it served as a place for storage for a while.
The plan to demolish the house was included in the city’s 2024 budget book. Wason told the board on Tuesday that the city had been looking at all the property it owns and considered how to turn it into better uses. Bloomington facilities director JD Boruff told the board that the funds that had been allocated for demolition would instead be used to make needed repairs—to stabilize it and make it weathertight.
The city had only one contractor to choose from—Rogers Remodeling. According to Boruff, potential contractors were required to do a walkthrough of the house on Sept. 2, before submitting quotes for the repairs.
Boruff said six contractors were invited to the walkthrough, but only two attended. Of the two, only Rogers Remodeling submitted a quote.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the item drew a question from board president Kyla Cox Deckard, who asked for confirmation that the land is currently zoned for residential use. Under the city’s UDO (unified Development Ordinance), the parcel is zoned R2 (residential medium lot).
Wason said the city’s intent with the property is “definitely” to make the property an affordable housing unit, with covenants attached.
There could be a scenario where the city makes an agreement with a property management firm, or one where an outright sale is made to a property owner for affordable housing, Wason said.
