Meeting the Need for Affordable Housing: 30 Years of Thrive Alliance Housing Services
30 year anniversary event held on January 29
[Columbus, IN] (January 30, 2020) –
Approximately 130 people attended an event at the Commons in Columbus on January 29 to kick off a year of celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of Thrive Alliance Housing Services (formerly Housing Partnerships, Inc.).
Thrive Alliance executive director, Mark Lindenlaub, began the evening with an overview of the organization’s first 30 years of building affordable housing in Columbus and the surrounding region. He remarked that the four original guiding principles of the organization – love your neighbor, create opportunities, encourage personal responsibility, and make a lasting impact – continue to guide their work. He emphasized the collaborative nature of Thrive Alliance’s housing efforts and credited its success to support from client families, volunteers, neighborhoods, and the overall community, as well as public and private investment in projects. Overall, Thrive Alliance has built 485 new affordable homes in its service area.
Jacob Sipe, executive director of the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, followed Lindenlaub’s remarks with a presentation entitled: “Connecting the Housing Dots.” Sipe recognized Thrive Alliance’s efforts in addressing a statewide and nationwide need for affordable housing. He illustrated the impact of the lack of truly affordable housing on population health. “Research continues to confirm that unmet social needs are associated with higher rates of hospital admissions, readmissions and emergency use,” Sipe said. “Supportive housing has been shown to decrease Medicaid cost by up to 67 percent,” he added.
Sipe pointed out that recent multi-million dollar investments in affordable housing by major health insurance companies indicate how much this particular social determinant of health is impacting health care costs.
Sipe also showed how the true cost of affordable housing lies in more than just having a roof over one’s head. “Statistics show that only 26 percent of U.S. neighborhoods are affordable when transportation costs are combined with housing costs,” he said.
Lindenlaub provided a preview of Thrive Alliance’s plans throughout 2020, including completing three rental houses currently under construction, building three new homes in the downtown neighborhood to sell to first-time home buyers, building a fourth house to serve the needs of a veteran household, and breaking ground Crossroads Village, a 64-resident, senior housing complex, in Seymour.
Community leader and long-time Thrive Alliance supporter, Jesse Brand, closed out the evening by leading the crowd in a toast congratulating Thrive Alliance Housing Services on its thirtieth anniversary and wishing it continued success for the next 30 years.
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Guided by the vision that everyone has the opportunity to live a secure, engaged and independent life, our mission at Thrive Alliance is to improve the quality of life and health for people at risk of losing their independence.
We help people get the right information, resources and support needed to live as independently as possible. Our network of programs focuses on issues related to affordable housing, caregiver support and services, nutrition and wellness programs, transportation and accessibility services, as well as fostering community-wide support for aging related issues. We serve as Indiana’s Agency on Aging for Bartholomew, Brown, Decatur, Jackson and Jennings counties.