Letter: Abuse is not key housing issue

After reading Bohanon and Curott [“The ongoing eviction pause not good for renters or landlords,” Aug. 20], I tried to research the cases of tenants spending rent checks on toys like boats and RVs.

Since the sources were not provided, I could not assess the prevalence of abuse upon which their “analysis” was based. My research revealed gaps in Bohanon and Curott’s “renters’ abuse” argument.

For one, there is a shortage of affordable housing. Per Andrew Bradley, the policy director for Prosperity Indiana, Indiana has a gap of 127,000 affordable units statewide, with only 37 available per 100 families. Secondly, the lack of good and promising jobs makes it more difficult to pay rent. According to a 2018 Brooking study, 51% of central Indiana’s jobs are neither good nor promising, meaning they provide insufficient pay or benefits and no viable pathway to good jobs. Good and promising jobs are needed to minimize being housing burdened (paying more than 30% of income on housing).

Thirdly, real estate values are rising, especially in downtown Indianapolis, while those in the lower-income bracket are losing their jobs or experiencing a reduction in work hours due to the pandemic.

The housing crisis is not good for anyone—renters or landlords. Hopefully, our community will rally around systemic and sustainable policy solutions instead of searching for a few examples of abuse.

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Joy Mason