In my earlier bankruptcy blog, Affordable Housing At Mapleton Park, I highlighted an affordable housing project in the Fall Creek area of Indianapolis. I explained that, as a bankruptcy lawyer in Indiana, I take an interest in all news that affects my clients. I’m especially interested in news about two topics: housing and jobs. You might even say those are the twin pillars of the rebuilding process after bankruptcy. In my work with the bankruptcy system for the past twenty-plus years, I often find myself dealing with job loss and with housing loss through foreclosure actions. As I help my clients rebuild their financial lives after bankruptcy, we’ll be working on gains. And that’s when those two factors will serve as keys to success: the availability of good jobs and the availability of affordable housing. That’s why I was glad to read in the North Indy Star last week that another affordable housing project is planned, this one in the South Broad Ripple area.

Carreau Design has already gained city land-use approval for an $18 million development project in the 4900 block of North College Avenue, to be called the Uptown. The building will include street level businesses, with three stories holding 72 apartments. Meanwhile, a neighborhood association has been organized called College Avenue Neighborhood Development Organization – CAN DO! for short. Resident Susan Smith, who helped get this organization together, says, “We aren’t talkers. We’re doers.” What a great motto that is for redevelopment in general, don’t you think? Those words, and this Uptown project really resonate with me as a bankruptcy lawyer. After all, isn’t that what bankruptcy is designed to do? Redevelop people’s lives, that is. I’m proud to say, together with my bankruptcy clients, we CAN DO that!