<p><strong>S</strong>tudents and families across Johnson County are sleeping on friend’s couches and have no permanent place to call home.</p>
<p>Those struggling with homelessness have told non-profit agency leaders and schools that finding affordable housing in Johnson County is one of the largest obstacles to getting themselves off the streets, out of their cars and off the couches of friends and family.</p>
<p>So leaders of KIC-IT, a non-profit organization based in Franklin that helps homeless youth and young adults, decided that they needed a way to offer affordable housing and services to people who had struggled to find stable housing in the county, said Kimberly Spurling, executive director of KIC-IT.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]
<p>Progress on a proposed apartment complex aimed at providing affordable housing to those in need has been halted and officials are waiting on a decision for a possible source of funding before they decide on how to move forward since the city of Franklin has rejected the plan as it is currently proposed.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, KIC-IT officials proposed an apartment complex in Franklin’s booming east side that would house offices of non-profit agencies geared toward helping people and affordable apartments with rents ranging from $560 for a one bedroom to $795 for a three bedroom apartment.</p>
<p>The 48-unit apartment building, dubbed Rockwell Pointe, would have 36 units for rent available for people who need affordable housing and 12 units to help youth who are clients of KIC-IT and are homeless or at risk of homelessness, Spurling said.</p>
<p>The future of the project is unclear since the Franklin Board of Zoning Appeals denied a variance application in September that would allow the agency to have the offices of 10 non-profit agencies, including some that work directly with the homeless population, on the same site as the apartments.</p>
<p>The proposed land for the site is already zoned for residential use, including for apartments. However, the variance application was to combine the apartments with on-site professional offices, which the land is not zoned for, said Alex Getchell, senior planner with Franklin, after the apartments were denied the variance.</p>
<p>The proposed site would be on the east side of Franklin, near the Interstate 65 corridor. The land where the complex is proposed is surrounded by crop land, Franklin Cove Apartments and a vacant child care center.</p>
<p>The site of Rockwell Pointe was chosen because the land where the proposed apartments would be is already zoned for multi family residential use, was in the city that has the county’s seat and was in the city with the highest amount of people identifying as homeless, Spurling said.</p>
<p>Rockwell Pointe is not a homeless shelter or transitional housing, but is a way to provide people affordable housing while offering them services that could help keep their life stable enough to never be homeless, Spurling said.</p>
<p>Part of the plan would call for a pantry with food and other resources on site, a laundry facility and the offices of non-profit agencies that help people who have struggled with homelessness.</p>
<p>“A lot of people have the misconception that it is homeless housing, we don’t refer to it like that at all,” Spurling said.</p>
<p>The project is on hold until late November when KIC-IT leaders expect to hear whether they get a tax credit from the Indiana Housing and Community Development. Continuing with the apartments without the offices is one option that could be pursued, said Terry Keusch, owner of Pioneer Development, which handled the apartment plans.</p>
<p>The apartments would be expected to be funded with private equity derived from federal rental housing tax credits, National Housing Trust Fund grant, an Affordable Housing Program grant and bank debt, Spurling said.</p>
<p>While the future of the apartments is unclear, homelessness continues to plague hundreds of people in Johnson County.</p>
<p>In Franklin, the problem is among the worst. School data from the 2017-2018 school year shows 518 students across all public school districts in the county reporting as homeless. Nearly half were from Franklin schools. The latest data for Franklin School alone show 285 student identifying as homeless, Spurling said.</p>
<p>Those numbers represent just what school and county officials know about. There are more, Spurling said.</p>
