Does Fort Wayne have enough housing affordable to its workforce?

“We have enough disruptive forces in the world right now. Let’s put our collective energies together to do something good.” -serial entrepreneur Heather Presley-Cowen on her “harmony-focused approach” to regional housing challenges.

For decades, Fort Wayne has made national headlines as an affordable place to buy a house for the average income earner. But as housing prices rise nationally, that’s changing. Last week, WANE 15 noted that Fort Wayne's median local housing price of $236,317 is becoming out of reach for its median local income earners (making $66,648/year as of April 2025). 

As “market-rate” homes become less attainable to the local population, it’s drawing attention to a gap in the housing market for what some are calling “workforce housing,” designed to serve buyers falling through the ever-widening gap between traditional Section 8 affordable housing (at or below 30-50 percent AMI) and the “market rate.” Workforce housing often takes the form of “missing middle” housing types – think multifamily units, townhomes, duplexes, fourplexes and more. Along with their affordability, these housing types allow for greater social mobility in neighborhoods, and they happen to align with a lot of characteristics modern homebuyers are seeking in communities, like intentional density and walkability.

So why isn’t there more “workforce housing” in places, like Fort Wayne? And – as some of our readers have asked – will there be more housing accessible to young adults and service industry professionals in Downtown Fort Wayne, specifically?