Improving Kids' Environment is a partner in the Citizen's Healthy Homes Initiative with the Concerned Clergy and the Citizen's Multi-Service Center.  As a partner, IKE wrote a Needs Assessment for the Kennedy-King Park Neighborhood on Indianapolis' Near Northeast Side.  The Needs Assessment was published on August 23, 2003. Back to Main Report

Citizens Healthy Homes Initiative:  A Project of

Citizen’s Multi-Service Center

Concerned Clergy of Greater Indianapolis

                                    Improving Kids’ Environment

601 E. 17th St.

Indianapolis, IN  46202

(317) 926-2351

chhi@ikecoalition.org

Indianapolis Citizen’s Healthy Homes Initiative

Kennedy-King Park Neighborhood Needs Assessment

Finding #2

 9.2% of the Homes are Boarded and Vacant

41 homes in the neighborhood – 9.2% of the total – are boarded and vacant.   The Indiana General Assembly has found that vacant buildings are a threat to public health, safety, and welfare.  Specifically, they found:

a.   Vacant structures often become dilapidated because they are not maintained and repaired by the owners or persons in control of them.

b.  Vacant structures attract children, become harborage for vermin, serve as temporary abodes for vagrants and criminals, and are likely to be damaged by vandals or set ablaze by arsonists.

c.  Many vacant structures are situated on narrow city lots and in close proximity to neighboring structures, thereby increasing the risk of conflagration and spread of insect and rodent infestation.

d.  Vacant, deteriorated structures contribute to blight, cause a decrease in property values, and discourage neighbors from making improvements to properties.

e.   Structures that remain boarded up for an extended period of time also exert a blighting influence and contribute to the decline of the neighborhood by decreasing property values, discouraging persons from moving into the neighborhood, and encouraging persons to move out of the neighborhood.