“The Riverside neighborhood on the west side used to feel like family to Alisha Madden, who moved there several years ago after a harrowing struggle with homelessness. But as housing prices rose, a trend that’s been happening in once-affordable neighborhoods throughout Indianapolis, she was forced out. “I didn’t have family, but living over there I felt like I did,” she said. “If everybody is poor, everybody is helping each other. We still need to have a poor neighborhood.”
She was one of many residents caught in the inexorable tide of development that has swept through Riverside in the past four years. The predominantly Black neighborhood along the White River northwest of downtown has a median household income of $29,000 according to IndyVitals’ latest 2019 data, well below that of Marion County. But from recent real estate listings of homes selling for more than $300,000 one would not guess it. Read more.–Ko Lyn Cheang, IndyStar
