Media Organization | Fort Wayne Media Collaborative

About Us

The mission of the Fort Wayne Media Collaborative is to bring together Fort Wayne’s media resources to address complex community challenges by creating and disseminating solid, evidence-based journalism. We envision transforming the nature of local journalism in Fort Wayne and giving our community greater access to solutions-oriented news that encourages civic engagement.

Indiana’s U.S. Senate and Congressional Candidates Propose Plans to Tackle Affordable Housing Crisis

by admin | Nov 5, 2022

This story was produced by journalism students at Purdue University Fort Wayne currently enrolled in COM317 - Digital Storytelling, under the supervision of professor Heloisa Sturm Wilkerson. They reached out to 36 Indiana candidates to learn more about their stances on housing issues affecting the state. Only a handful of candidates had proposals to address the housing crisis that has affected the nation. By Emily Coverstone, Sydney Hamblin and Megan Isenbarger The family poverty rate in the state of Indiana is at a ten-year low, but similar to the rest of the United States, Indiana is facing a severe shortage of affordable housing for Hoosiers. The state is facing a shortage of 135,033 affordable and available rental homes, according to a report produced by Prosperity Indiana and the...

Task force recommends state cash, bad landlord crackdown, to ease housing crisis

by Leslie Bonilla Muñiz | Oct 28, 2022

An interim study committee examining solutions to Indiana’s housing crisis on Thursday approved a lengthy list of recommendations for future legislation — including state funding for housing-related infrastructure and a vague pledge to hold accountable negligent landlords peddling “substandard” housing.There are 16 early-stage ideas on the draft list. But despite their broad strokes and wide range, all have the same goal: boost housing in Indiana, said Housing Task Force Co-Chair Rep. Doug Miller, R-Elkhart.“This in no way, shape or form has to be the absolute definitive. We had to take a 10,000-foot view and decide, of all the issues that were presented [at] the task force, what can move the needle?” Miller asked. State could step in Chief among those solutions — and the most likely...

Struggle and Success
Section 8 vouchers provide a pathway to stability, but challenges remain

by Dave Gong | Oct 17, 2022

Without the Fort Wayne Housing Authority, Fort Wayne resident Aquila White is confident she would not be where she is today – a homeowner. White, 35, is a former participant in the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program – often referred to as Section 8 – and of the Fort Wayne Housing Authority’s Family Self-Sufficiency Program. She is one of thousands of residents who sought housing assistance from the Fort Wayne Housing Authority – a number that is increasing as the price of rent continues to rise nationwide. Long waitlists and difficulty finding landlords and property owners willing to participate can create harrowing challenges for those in need of assistance. Government officials and social service agencies have noted a rise in housing assistance applications in recent years – many...

Indiana had one of the highest eviction rates in the country before and during the pandemic

by Benjamin Thorp | Oct 17, 2022

Indiana had one of the highest eviction rates in the country both before and during the pandemic, according to data released by the Eviction Research Network. The data show that even during the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eviction moratoria, Indiana’s eviction rates were only slightly lower than historic averages. Much of the data underlines existing research from both SAVI and Eviction Lab. (Courtesy of the Eviction Research Network) Tim Thomas is the director of the Eviction Research Network out of the University of California, Berkeley. He said while many states saw dramatic dips in eviction rates throughout the pandemic, Indiana’s rates stayed relatively close to historic averages. “Indiana is one of the few where the filing rates got back up to 50, 60 percent of...

Resettling refugees in Fort Wayne: How does the process work, and what is needed?

by Pablo Hurtado | Oct 4, 2022

A former refugee from Burma, Nyein Chan knows what it’s like to adjust to a new place—not just in Fort Wayne, but in the United States. He knows what it takes to build a life here from scratch. That’s why, for the past 25 years, Chan has worked for Catholic Charities as Director of Resettlement Services for the national organization, helping other immigrants and refugees make the transition to life in Northeast Indiana and the U.S. For years, Fort Wayne has been welcoming families and individuals from around the world seeking refuge from war-torn and hostile environments. So what has the process looked like historically, and how is it evolving? Where do refugees find housing in Fort Wayne, and what is needed to help them assimilate and prosper here? The story is complex, fragmented, and...

Study: Indiana’s growing refugee population needs language services, housing, job access

by Casey Smith | Oct 4, 2022

Language services, affordable housing and access to jobs are among the top needs of Indiana’s growing refugee population, according to a new report published this week by Indiana University researchers. Researchers at IU’s Center for Research on Inclusion and Social Policy (CRISP) used interviews with local refugees and employees at refugee-serving agencies in Indiana to inform the report, which intends to identify service gaps and provide policy recommendations. Research analyzed throughout the policy brief shows the barriers both groups face are often intertwined. The report follows an influx of Afghan refugees that came to Indiana last year, after escaping a country once again ruled by Taliban militants. “It led me and my team to start thinking – what does this process of resettlement...

State, local policies needed to remedy homelessness

by Whitney Downard | Oct 4, 2022

As housing prices increase for both buyers and renters, more Hoosiers are getting squeezed out of the market and families are pushed toward homelessness. But researchers argue the state could take steps to help its most vulnerable Hoosiers. This year’s point-in-time count in Indianapolis reported an overall decrease in the number of people experiencing homelessness. But for those under the age of 24, whether in a family or not, homelessness continued to increase over pre-pandemic figures. “I was super surprised to see the increase in individuals under the age of 24 and (in) families,” said Brendan Bow, the lead researcher for the count and an accompanying policy brief. “A lot of the populations went up a lot for 2021 during COVID but most of the age groups went back down.” In particular,...

City of Fort Wayne to Invest $600,000 in Habitat for Humanity’s Affordable Housing Project

by Julie Creek | Oct 4, 2022

Cecelia Thomas noticed a small crowd of people outside a house under construction at 3009 Warsaw St. Tuesday afternoon as she returned from the grocery, and got excited. “I dropped my food at home, and ran back up here to find out what was going on,” she said. “I still get excited when somebody moves into a house.” While nobody was moving into the unfinished house, Thomas got there in time to watch Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry announce that the city’s Community Development Division has awarded $600,000 in federal funds through the HOME Investment Partnerships program to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Fort Wayne to build six houses in the La Rez, Oxford, and Poplar neighborhoods. “Everyone deserves a safe and affordable place to call home, which is why we are pleased to partner with...

Pandemic-hit homeowners say state program saved houses: “It should be on a billboard”

by Leslie Bonilla Muñiz | Oct 4, 2022

John Bauer’s salvation came as a phone call. The Porter County resident had been out of work since the pandemic first blasted into the Chicago area, where he’d worked as a tile-setter. Bauer said he resisted applying for unemployment benefits, but folded as the pandemic dragged longer. Illinois ended its federally enhanced unemployment benefits in September 2021. Bauer’s wife, Cynthia, succumbed to Covid-19 on New Year’s Day. Six days later, a propane heater in the garage — feet away from Bauer — exploded into a fire that consumed the garage, melted his utility meter and damaged his house’s siding, roof, windows and door. Bauer’s income dropped to near-nothing as the expenses, insurance complexities and grief piled up. By early 2022, he’d fallen behind on the mortgage for the house his...

Who’s unhoused in Fort Wayne? Often, it’s mothers and those escaping abuse without social networks

by Kara Hackett | Oct 4, 2022

Sharon Tucker, Executive Director of Vincent Village, in front of the Sally Weigand Community Center. (Rachel Von Stroup) When Angela Skelton left an abusive relationship about 12 years ago, she moved to Fort Wayne to live with her parents. Since then, sometimes working three jobs at a time, she’s managed to save enough money to move into a two-bedroom apartment with two of her children. But when her rent went up $300 a month in late 2019 and her third son moved home at the beginning of the pandemic, they needed more space. That commenced an apartment hunt in Fort Wayne, which Skelton says lasted nearly two years. ‘It felt like another job,” she says. “As the price of rent goes up and the number of houses available goes down, it’s getting harder and harder to find somewhere to live.”...

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