South Bend, Indiana

Key insights:

South Bend’s New Neighborhood Homes Initiative: Revitalizing Vacant Lots with Infill Housing
With nearly 400 vacant lots in the Near Northwest Neighbourhood alone, South Bend set out to address housing shortages while breathing new life into its communities.

Launched in 2022, the New Neighborhood Homes Initiative focuses on building affordable, well-designed infill housing on vacant land, aligning with shifting demographics toward smaller households and walkable neighbourhoods.

Explore how South Bend is using targeted infill strategies to expand housing choice and strengthen neighbourhood vitality.

Keywords: South Bend housing initiative; gentle density housing; infill housing; vacant lot redevelopment; affordable housing South Bend; small-scale multi-unit housing; walkable neighbourhoods; housing market trends; neighbourhood revitalization; missing middle housing

The City of South Bend, Indiana has created a set of pre-approved plans for small to medium density building types (carriage house – sixplex apartment) to help foster infill development and to offer a vehicle for local residents to earn income.

Key insights:

• A pre-approved plans catalog
• Building plan and building permit applications
• Iinfill process and property inspection checklist for prospective developers.
• Detailed steps including obtaining a property survey, preparing a site plan, requesting design deviations, procuring technical contractors, and preparing a cost estimate for a prospective development project.
• The pre-approved catalog provides context on the initiative, the infill process checklist, and 9 sample designs for developers.