Phase 1 of Karwick Village is complete. Six homes now stand on South Karwick Road, forming the first cooperative housing community of its kind in La Porte County and the result of nearly a decade of planning, fundraising, and partnership. However, Phase 1 was never just about the buildings. It was a proof of concept that a community can be created through affordable housing. Here are the things we’ve learned through completing Phase 1 of Karwick Village:
1. Affordable housing happens when a community decides it is needed.
Karwick Village did not break ground because the market demanded it. It broke ground because the need in our community is immense. Our community recognized this need, and partners, funders, and donors came together to make affordable housing happen.
Local and county governments matched funds. The Health Foundation of La Porte and The Unity Foundation, through a Lilly grant, both made significant donations via grants. Individual donors made substantial donations, and many companies and trades donated their services as an in-kind donation. This shows that when the community decides housing is a priority, the path opens. Phase 1 is what that decision looks like in concrete and lumber.
2. Affordable housing can be beautiful, functional, and built with dignity.
There are many assumptions about affordable housing, including that “affordable” means utilitarian. That dignity is something residents earn later, after they are housed. That affordable housing is a temporary solution, not meant to be comfortable, but to be a stopover on the way to something better.
Phase 1 rejects that. Every design choice at Karwick Village was intentional, from the units themselves to the buildings’ orientation on the site. Homes are sized for 1- to 2-person households, most affected by housing insecurity in our county. Shared green space and the future community center are not amenities; they are infrastructure for connection. Residents are not tenants in a complex. They are neighbors in a village.
Beautiful. Functional. Designed so that the people who live there feel they belong. That is the standard. This community was built for residents to set down roots and stay as long as they wish. Karwick Village is not a stopover until something better comes along.
3. The cooperative and forever-affordable model shows a way forward.
Most affordable housing has an expiration date. Income restrictions phase out. Units convert. Properties are sold. Affordability is temporary by design. Karwick Village is built differently. The cooperative model gives residents a real seat at the table in community decisions, from shared space use to future resident selection. The forever-affordable structure, a community land trust, ensures that as land values rise, the homes do not get priced out of range for the people who live in them.
This is housing that stays affordable permanently, and residents are not just housed by it; they help govern it. Karwick Village is their home, and they have ownership and decision-making power as a cooperative.
4. The need is bigger than Phase 1, and applications have proved it.
When applications opened for Phase 1, the response made one thing impossible to ignore: six homes are a starting point, not a solution to the broader housing problem.
The demand we saw is the clearest argument for Phase 2. Our community needs more, and the people who applied are telling us so directly. We met so many community members through our outreach events. No two stories were the same: young and old, families and single individuals. The urgent need for affordable housing was the common thread. Phase 1 did exactly what a first phase is supposed to do. It worked. It taught us. And it made the case for what comes next.
We are not done. Phase 2 launches now.
The community center is on the horizon, and what comes next, because that is what the residents at Karwick Village need, a place to gather as a community, a space where cooperative community grows.
The model we proved at Karwick Village is one we believe can be replicated here and across LaPorte County.
If you want to be part of what comes next, there is room for you. Donate, volunteer, advocate, or simply spread the word. Phase 1 happened because a community decided it should. Phase 2 will happen the same way.
