To qualify for the program buyers need to meet an income limit, be able to perform the repairs, and use the home as their main residence for at least five years. (Drew Daudelin/WFYI)



The City of Indianapolis Tuesday celebrated a milestone in its effort to turn vacant and abandoned properties into affordable homes.

Through a partnership with the nonprofit Renew Indianapolis, 200 homes have been sold in less than two years.

The city also announced the expansion of a program that incentivizes new owners to rehabilitate the property themselves. Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership, or INHP, will match up to $15,000 when someone buys and repairs any property owned by the City's Land Bank.

Rob Evans is COO of INHP.

“I think the value of having someone do the work themselves, to buy a house, own it, do the work themselves, is they’re fully invested not only in that property but in that neighborhood," Evans says. "And there’s a real value to having people connected to their neighborhood, connected to their house that becomes a home.”

To qualify for the rehab program, which also functions as a mortgage loan program, buyers need to meet an income limit (below 120 percent of HUD's Area Median Income), be able to perform the repairs, and use the home as their main residence for at least five years.