City land offered for apartments for homeless seniors, veterans
LTHC’s McCarty Hope Apartments find potential home. Plus, fundraiser set for victim ID’d in fatal July 4 fire. Details surface on proposed new Meijer location. And plenty more.
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CITY LAND OFFERED FOR APARTMENTS FOR HOMELESS SENIORS, VETERANS
Land the city acquired in 2024 next to the new Lafayette Public Works Campus could be part of a housing solution for currently homeless seniors and veterans, according to plans filed recently by the Lafayette Transitional Housing Center.
The project, dubbed McCarty Hope Apartments in initial plans for a 24-unit complex filed recently with the Area Plan Commission, has been an idea looking for a space for several years, Jennifer Layton, president and CEO of LTHC, said this week.
“We know that there's one thing that can help people that are experiencing homelessness, and that's housing,” Layton said.
“I've got a lot of folks that have income, but they're on a fixed income, and they simply can't afford a place to live,” Layton said. “This is for people that are literally sleeping outside, maybe sleeping in their car, sleeping in places that are not meant for human habitation, or for people that are staying in any of our emergency shelters, either here at LTHC or Lafayette Urban Ministry.”
Layton said the project has a developer, Fort Wayne-based Keller Development, lined up and $7 million of the $9 million assembled to get construction going. But she said the concept was languishing to find a spot to purchase or where rezoning wouldn’t face challenges. She said she’d hoped to find property that was along bus routes, near Lafayette’s medical services and close to the Veterans Administration, which has offices on Park East Boulevard just off McCarty Lane.
She said she shared the challenges of the search with city officials, hoping they had ideas.
“And they certainly did,” Layton said.
In 2024, the city picked up the site just west of the new public works campus in a land swap for property once targeted as a potential well field near the former Aretz Airport, along the Hoosier Heartland Highway. The land, situated across from CAT Park’s soccer fields and roughly behind Lafayette Market Place on Indiana 38 East, was set aside for future city use.
Mayor Tony Roswarski said he knew about LTHC’s idea and what the nonprofit was going through to find ground.
“I tried to weigh the options of how much we would need in the future,” Roswarski said. “I came to the conclusion that we had enough potential extra space, and we need to get people housed.”
Roswarski said the city offered the land to LTHC.
“Hopefully, with our help financially, with the land and everything, and what they're working on, we can make that project a reality,” Roswarski said.
The initial plans filed with the APC call for 26 single-bedroom apartments on three acres. A second phase with another 14 apartments could follow.
If rezoning is approved later this summer, construction could start in late-2025 with the apartments opening by the end of 2026, Layton said.
Layton said LTHC would prioritize seniors and veterans for the apartments. The complex would include support services, she said.
Layton said the project would add to the 99 apartments LTHC has in other parts of Lafayette.
“We have 336 people who are unhoused in our community right now,” Layton said. “This is only 26 units, so it’s not even 10% of that. But we certainly are looking at a way that we can prioritize for people that need it the most – people who have been homeless the longest. … I’ll tell you that we have plenty of people that will be able to secure these housing units. We won’t have vacancies.”
No hearing on rezoning for the project has been set, yet.
FUNDRAISER SATURDAY, AS VICTIM IDENTIFIED IN JULY 4 FIRE
Kendra Hodges, 33, of Romney, was identified through DNA testing as the victim in a fatal July 4 structure fire along U.S. 231 South, the Tippecanoe County coroner’s office reported Thursday.
Hodges was one of three people in a garage in the 13000 block of U.S. 231, south of Romney, when buckets of fireworks stored near the center of the structure were accidentally set off, Bill Dearing, an inspector with the Indiana Fire Marshal’s Office, said this week.
The fire, reported at 10:16 p.m. Friday, quickly spread from the garage, damaging the nearby house.
Dearing said that Hodges was near the back of the garage when the fireworks went off. He said two others were near an open garage door and were able to get out. He said Hodges had no way out. He said that deputies on the scene that night told him they arrived within nine minutes of the call and that the garage had burned to the ground by that time.
Josh Hancock, who lived at the home, was able to escape when the fire started. Scott Provo, 46, of Tippecanoe County, had serious injuries from the fire and was flown to Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis by an IU Health Lifeline helicopter, according to the sheriff’s office.
Dearing said the fire marshal’s investigation continued. But he said the evidence found pointed to an accidental cause.
Among the community efforts for the family will be a dine-to-donate fundraiser for Hancock and his family at Nine Irish Brothers, 3520 Indiana 38 East in Lafayette, on Saturday. Matt Rose, Nine Irish Brothers owner, said all profit from that day’s sales and any donations made at the restaurant will go to the family. Nine Irish Brothers will be open 11 a.m.-1 a.m. that day, with music by Traveler’s Dream starting at 7:30 p.m. For more details, here’s a link.
MEIJER LINES UP PLANS FOR A THIRD GREATER LAFAYETTE LOCATION
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