{"id":1805,"date":"2026-02-15T21:29:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T01:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zacharybaiel.com\/blog\/?p=1805"},"modified":"2026-02-15T21:29:38","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T01:29:38","slug":"affordable-housing-in-west-lafayette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zacharybaiel.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/15\/affordable-housing-in-west-lafayette\/","title":{"rendered":"Affordable Housing in West Lafayette"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It makes sense to me that the council wouldn\u2019t understand the context of what affordable housing should look like for our community in these tower developments. Mostly because the developments in questions in this downtown area are fully for the student market, affordable housing initiatives make no sense if we are only working for people connected to the university through study or for work. The towers are a fix for Purdue\u2019s student housing shortage, which is their problem that is encroaching into our community and becoming our problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The affordable housing issue in WL relates more to issues like companies buying out houses in our neighborhood to either become vacation rentals or they get rolled into the property management nexus locally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Affordability should be studied in the context of how we can bring more families to live here in the community, not to mop up Purdue\u2019s shortcomings.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Devon Roddel: https:\/\/www.basedinlafayette.com\/p\/west-lafayette-signs-off-on-parkview\/comment\/209433086<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My responses and updates<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Agreed on Purdue’s obligation to fix its own mess. It’s complicated by the political boundaries, with Mayor John Dennis annexing Purdue back in the 2013, inviting the runaway train into our homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our good pal Dave Bangert covered this new interlocal cooperation agreement reality:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bangert: Newly annexed, Purdue wants a bigger say in off-campus development<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dave Bangert<\/p>\n\n\n\n

April 3, 2014, 11:36 p.m. ET<\/p>\n\n\n\n

West Lafayette might have pulled off a feat that once seemed unthinkable by annexing Purdue University on its way to U.S. 231 in an expansion that doubled the size of the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Purdue came out with a sweeter deal than first realized, judging by a little-mentioned \u201cinterlocal cooperation agreement\u201d signed by city and university officials on March 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In it, the university has set itself up to get a say in off-campus development in ways it\u2019s never had before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or at least in ways it\u2019s never seemed interested in having, until now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The annexation agreement between West Lafayette and Purdue includes the creation of an Interlocal Cooperation Board, consisting of three officials each from the university administration and from city hall. Among that joint board\u2019s first duties is to develop land use and zoning regulations \u201cadjacent to and\/or relating to\u201d the Purdue campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The annexation agreement between West Lafayette and Purdue includes the creation of an Interlocal Cooperation Board, consisting of three officials each from the university administration and from city hall. Among that joint board\u2019s first duties is to develop land use and zoning regulations \u201cadjacent to and\/or relating to\u201d the Purdue campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A \u201cCampus Buffer Area,\u201d the agreement filed with the Tippecanoe County recorder\u2019s office calls it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The full interlocal cooperation agreement: https:\/\/www.westlafayette.in.gov\/home\/showpublisheddocument\/194\/637963313128900000<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think Councilors Bellisario and Blanco were woefully unprepared to present their case for the resolution. They were relying, instead, on the APC to do the heavy lifting on the research and imagination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you hear affordable housing, Devon, what do you think of as tools to bring in more families to live here in the West Lafayette community?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What types of barriers do you see for the first-home builders? And where would these homes be built in West Lafayette? All the talk I hear from the Council is about densification of the existing neighborhoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I live in New Chauncey and the negotiated density is along the Northwestern Ave and Fowler corridors. However, as with a lot of in-fill development, it’s slow moving, and that’s by design. You don’t want people just ripping out houses and slapping anything up. It needs to fit into the character of what the neighborhood is and could be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I suspect that the only locations first-home builders could go would be the farm fields around West Lafayette. And those farmers know their land is valuable, so I would highly doubt that they would sell for cheap, which is cause the prices of these first-homes to go up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the homes that do exist in these outskirt West Lafayette neighborhoods are selling for $275k – $450k.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mortgage payment for a $275k home, with no down payment, at 6.193%, insurance, property taxes, and other expenses comes to $2,416.37.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.calculator.net\/mortgage-calculator.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you use the 25% rule for housing, you need your monthly take home pay<\/span> to be $9,664. Or $2,230 weekly. This would make your yearly take home $115,968. Or roughly $144k gross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What price do you want these first-homes to sell for? What income ranges should receive support?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It makes sense to me that the council wouldn\u2019t understand the context of what affordable housing should look like for our community in these tower…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-participatory-culture","category-politics","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybaiel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybaiel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybaiel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybaiel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybaiel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1805"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybaiel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1817,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybaiel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1805\/revisions\/1817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybaiel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybaiel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybaiel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}