07/18/2025
For decades, Fort Wayne has made national headlines as an affordable place to buy a house for the average income earner. But as housing prices rise nationally, that’s changing. Last week, noted that Fort Wayne’s median local housing price of $236,317 is becoming out of reach for its median local income earners (making $66,648/year as of April 2025).
As “market-rate” homes become less attainable to the local population, it’s drawing attention to a gap in the housing market for what some are calling “workforce housing,” designed to serve buyers falling through the ever-widening gap between traditional Section 8 affordable housing (at or below 30-50 percent AMI) and the “market rate.” Workforce housing often takes the form of “missing middle” housing types – think multifamily units, townhomes, duplexes, fourplexes and more. Along with their affordability, these housing types allow for greater social mobility in neighborhoods, and they happen to align with a lot of characteristics modern homebuyers are seeking in communities, like intentional density and walkability.
So why aren’t cities like Fort Wayne building more workforce housing? We explore in this week’s Above the Fold in our bio.
