Indianapolis on pace to meet goal of improving city properties

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Mayor Joe Hogsett has pledged to clean up Indianapolis neighborhoods by fixing up or demolishing homes.

In January 2017, he said he wanted to help with 2,000 properties in two years.

City data shows the Hogsett administration is on the cusp of reaching that goal, with more than 1,800 done since January 2017.

In these projects, the city has contributed to efforts to rehab, fund new construction or demolish buildings. It’s happening all over the city.

The intersection of South Rural and East Murry streets seems quiet but that hasn’t always been the case. One vacant home on the corner had been notorious for being filled with drugs, vagrants and crime. It was just doors down from where 17-year-old Katie Berry has lived with her family.

“It’s kind of eerie because you have to kind of think how many people come around here at night. So like what sort of things could go down. It’s kind of a lot to worry about,” she said.

For years, another neighbor told News 8, he tried to get the city to do something but nothing happened, This spring, though was different. The city demolished it.

“It feels a lot safer being here now that it’s kind of demolished,” Berry said.

It’s thanks to that city initiative, looking to help improve 2,000 homes in two years. All over the city, help has been on the way, but more work lies ahead.

“There’s homeless people constantly up in them. Drug addicts constantly in them, people from the neighborhood coming up missing all the time,” said Jamie Bailey, who lives blocks away from Rural and Murry.

He said there’s at least one problematic vacant house with the same issues as the one on Rural.

He said he hopes the city comes through the demolish that one, too.

For more information on which properties the city has helped, click here.