Stakeholders – members of the Housing Coalition of Noble County – gathered at the offices of Be Noble Inc. on September 7, 2023 to review the county’s new Housing Strategy Guide, assembled by the Housing Resource Hub. The partnership has helped spur multiple potential catalyst sites in three Noble County communities in recent months.

The strategy lays out the process kicked off by Be Noble Inc. in May 2022 when the project was initiated. Following the formation of the Housing Coalition of Noble County, acting as a steering committee for the project, five incorporated communities were selected to be included in a Market Potential Analysis. A communications plan was also developed.

A study by Zimmerman/Volk Associates was completed by November 2022. A Community Housing Needs survey was also launched. The resulting report showed a local median household income of $64,800, with about 78% of the 20,650 existing housing units being owner-occupied. The median home value in Noble County (at the time of data collection) was $166,200. Nearly 2,300 households of all incomes reportedly have the potential to move to Noble County each year. About 53% of them seek traditional detached houses; 36% seek rental units; the remainder are looking for townhouses or condominiums.

The next phase of strategy development was to engage the public. A Housing Symposium, hosted at the Community Learning Center in Kendallville, was held in April 2023. The Hub narrated a deep dive into the Housing Market Potential report and helped set the baseline for understanding Noble County’s housing market.

Since April, multiple communities have been working to identify possible catalyst sites for new housing development. Experts from the Hub have met with economic developers, town, and city officials in Albion, Kendallville, and Ligonier. The Hub will continue to be a partner for Noble County, armed with the relationships, knowledge, and skills to help expand the scope of potential developers, build capital stacks, and assist homebuyers with financing options.

The work ahead includes identifying benchmarks to help measure progress and exploring homebuyer financial support programs that may be made available. The team at Be Noble Inc. will also be looking to create lines of communications with government partners to help track new residential building permits and ensure best use of the human resources available, through this project, to spur growth.

Find more information about housing in Noble County at https://onenobleco.com/housing/.