Organizations can help you achieve homeownership in Martindale Brightwood

Buying and owning a home is not as easy as it used to be, especially for families living in neighborhoods like Martindale Brightwood.

However, affordable housing may not be as unattainable as some may think. The Recorder reached out to a few local organizations to discuss all the programs, resources and key characters available to help those looking to achieve homeownership in the Martindale Brightwood neighborhood.

Martindale Brightwood Community Development Corporation (CDC)

Martindale Brightwood CDC has been helping residents build a sustainable neighborhood for the last 32 years, according to Joi Harmon, deputy director of Martindale Brightwood CDC.

The main goal of the organization is to help people find and obtain affordable housing and assist in economic development, education and environmental justice. This comes in the form of a series of free training and workshops alongside community building, neighborhood advocacy and, for the first time in more than a decade, developing new housing at an affordable rate.

Martindale Brightwood CDC recently developed six affordable townhomes on the 2400 Block of Rural Street, two of which have already been sold to local families.

“Our approach has been to build and to do development one block at a time,” Harmon said. “We started with building these townhomes and getting the funding for that. We have a community garden on that block, and then also looked at, ‘How do we invest in the neighbors who are already there?’”

That area on Rural Street used to be a major part of the community before the freeway displaced many families, Harmon said. So, it was critical for the CDC to invest in providing support to that area with home repair and minor maintenance residents may need regardless of if they rent or own homes on that block.

READ MORE: Martindale Brightwood: Low incomes and high housing costs fuel crisis

Last year, the CDC began offering homebuyer education classes, where residents looking to purchase a home within 6-12 months could learn everything they need to know about the homebuying process from the expert inspectors, realtors and lenders.

Martindale Brightwood CDC also has a real estate development program called Jumpstart Indy, which is currently in its third year. The program is for aspiring developers and was modeled from similar programs in cities such as Wilmington, Delaware and Philadelphia to help people from the community understand the development process in a way that allows them to build wealth.

“When you think about programs like Jumpstart … we bring in experts from each of the areas that we offer to lead those sessions,” Harmon said. “Whether that’s an architect or a market analyst or someone who’s familiar with estate funding or brownfields, we really want to empower the community.”

For more information about Martindale Brightwood CDC or to register for classes, visit mbcdc.org.

Intend Indiana

Based in Indianapolis, Intend Indiana’s mission is to connect people to affordable housing opportunities, whether that be through building new homes, rehabilitating older homes, leading education workshops or lending programs, President Stephanie Quick said.

The nonprofit serves the community under four arms, Build Fund, Edge Fund, Renew Landbank and Affordable HomeMATTERS, Quick said. Build Fund and Edge Fund, which are both Community Development Financial Institution funds (CDFI) are for small business lending and affordable housing lending respectively.

Renew Landbank rehabilitates vacant, run down and abandoned properties into usable spaces for businesses or livable homes. Affordable HomeMATTERS, however, focuses on creating opportunities for equitable homeownership in diverse neighborhoods.

“The way that we make people aware and get them basically into the pipeline, especially for the homes that we develop, is through our Homebuyer Education series,” Quick said. “Folks do not have to buy a home from us if they attend our Homebuyer Education workshops, but that is certainly an opportunity to hear more about how to get started with homeownership, especially for the homes that we’re developing.”

Intend Indiana’s Homeownership 101 classes cover just about everything else, Quick said. The classes, which are free to attend in sessions year-round, are not just about making people aware of what kind of credit score they need to buy a home but making sure they understand what it means to be a homeowner — like saving for emergency repairs, Quick said.

“It definitely talks about the financing side for a home, but it goes into much more detail,” Quick said. “Once a homebuyer actually owns a home, we don’t want them to be sort of left out there in the dark, so we do include in our home buyer education series opportunities for existing homeowners to come in and hear more about challenges they may be having and how to address those.”

Since 2022, Intend Indiana has conducted eight sessions of their Home buyer 101 classes, which feature just under 100 participants. In 2023, Intend Indiana had 10 homeownership opportunities, and Quick said they are on pace to have approximately 30 homebuyers between Martindale Brightwood, Near Northwest, Riverside and Far Eastside by the end of this year.

In 2022, Intend Indiana, in partnership with the Martindale Brightwood CDC and the Edna Martin Christian Center, received a Lift Indy Award for a plan they submitted to revitalize the 46218 by rehabilitating homes. Quick said Intend Indiana also received a Lift Indy Award for a similar project providing homeowner repair and wrap-around services in partnership with the Community Alliance on the Far Eastside (CAFE) and Hope CDC.

In 2023, the nonprofit finished up its new Home Power program in Martindale Brightwood, which saw the completion of 12 new construction homes in partnership with the Cummins Foundation and the Indianapolis African American Quality of Life Initiative.

This year, Quick said they are on track to complete six more new construction homes in Martindale Brightwood, which leads to a grand total of 25 homes built and rehabilitated in 46218. For more information or to register for the Homebuyer 101 class, visit intendindiana.org.

Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership (INHP)

INHP serves more than just Martindale Brightwood, however they do a lot of “neat work” with the Martindale Brightwood CDC in the 46218 area code, according to Tim Coxey, director of communication and marketing for IMHP.

INHP was created 36 years ago with the goal of helping low-income families learn what it means to be a homeowner and educate them on how to buy a home. The organization offers four educational courses (the first three of which are free) — Successful Renting, Understanding Credit, Dollars and Sense and Homebuyer Education.

Success Renting offers advice and tips on how to be a good renter and goes over the pros and cons of renting vs. homeownership because at the end of the day, homeownership is not for everybody, and they understand that, Coxey said.

The Understanding Credit class is about learning how credit works in your daily life and how it is important to the home buying process. However, the Dollars and Sense class is more of a budgeting class and includes tips on how to build a budget, manage daily finances, save for life events and save for a downpayment.

The Homebuyer Education class, which is $75, is INHP’s most popular class and is a more comprehensive guide, featuring experts who come into play when buying a home, such as real estate agents, appraisers and inspectors and explains their role in the process.

Each class is available in person or online throughout the year.

“People want to know how to buy a home, want to talk to an advisor, have issues with credit or need help saving,” Coxey said. “Someone can spend one month to two years in the prep program meeting one on one with an INHP advisor — a HUD certified advisor meets with people one-on-one to understand what the path to homeownership looks like.”

In addition to education, INHP aims to be a one-stop shop for affordable homeownership by offering consumer lending, unique mortgage loans and also building houses around Marion County, Coxey said.

In 2023, INHP helped 1,310 households through education classes and mortgage lending. They were also able to impact 1,133 affordable homes across community solutions and tools, according to their annual report.

INHP is at 2960 N. Meridian St., Suite 300, which is directly across from the dinosaurs at the Children’s Museum. For more information or to register for a class, visit inhp.org.

Contact Arts & Culture Reporter Chloe McGowan at 317-762-7848. Follow her on X @chloe_mcgowanxx.