Near Northwest Neighborhood breaks ground on affordable housing project

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) - The Near Northwest Neighborhood broke ground today on an affordable housing project in South Bend.

The NNN is partnering with the City of South Bend to build affordable Infill housing.

CDFI Friendly South Bend, or Community Development Financial Institutions, are working with IFF, a regional nonprofit from Chicago, to help fund the project.

Soon to be standing at 821 Cushing Avenue, the apartment building will consist of four 2-bedroom units, each about 900 square feet.

“The reason why we’re so excited is that this type of project, this type of apartment building, in one that hasn’t been seen in the city of South Bend for a long time, which is like a neighborhood scale apartment building that fits within the context of the neighborhood,” said Kathy Schuth, executive director for the Near Northwest Neighborhood. “It will look like a large house but also provides four new places for families to live, so this meets all of the goals of the Near Northwest (Neighborhood) in this project.”

This is the first four-plex built in the neighborhood in many decades as NNN seeks to increase its role in developing income-restricted small apartment buildings.

“I think it’s important to know that the City of South Bend is really doing a lot to encourage this type of development in our neighborhoods,” said Schuth. “In the last 18 months, we’ve seen three storefronts open up on this block, including Brain Lair Books, The Botany Shop, and the Portage Collective, and we know there’s going to be more. I mean, we’ve really seen some exciting and creative businesses happening, as well as housing investment.”

The $750,000 project is set to be completed around this time next year.

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