This is the WFHB Local News for Tuesday, October 7th, 2025.

In today’s newscast, Mayor Thomson addressed the housing affordability crisis during a town hall yesterday that took place at Jackson Creek Middle School. More at the top of today’s show.

Also coming up in the next half hour, we have Lil Bub’s Lil Show, a co-production between WFHB and Lil Bub’s Big Fund.

But first, your local headlines:

Mayor Thomson Addresses Housing Affordability Crisis At Town Hall 

On Monday, Mayor Kerry Thomson spoke with community members for a Traveling Town Hall at Jackson Creek Middle School.

The forum focused mainly on housing, a top priority of Thomson’s administration since she took office. The mayor outlined the city’s ongoing efforts to address the housing affordability crisis in addition to describing her long-term vision for the future of housing in the city. 

Mayor Thomson began with discussing the city’s response to homelessness, saying they hope to tackle the root causes, such as affordable housing and a lack of mental health treatment. She said if there’s any city that could address homelessness – Bloomington would be the place. 

“While this is not unique to Bloomington, I am firm in my belief that if there is any city in this country that can solve homelessness, it is Bloomington, Indiana,” said Thomson. “In a city as innovative and compassionate as Bloomington is that we really have an opportunity to create solutions that others have not tried.”

According to multiple data sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau and American Community Survey, Monroe County has the highest rate of cost-burden in Indiana. Housing cost-burden means that a household is spending more than 30 percent of its total income on housing costs. 

Bloomington’s 2020 Housing Survey says that over 60 percent of renters and nearly 30 percent of homeowners in the city are cost-burdened. 

During the town hall, Director of Housing and Neighborhood Development Anna Killion-Hanson outlined the city’s housing ecosystem. She says the demand for housing has outpaced our growth of housing development. 

“Unfortunately, right now, Bloomington is the most housing cost burden metro area in the state, high cost, low wage,” said Killion-Hanson.

Killion-Hanson explained the city’s focus on revising the Unified Development Ordinance, adding affordable housing units in the Hopewell neighborhood and implementing multifaceted strategies to promote diverse, attainable housing. 

“We need to make it easier to build more types of housing in more places for more people, without compromising the unique neighborhood character,” she said.”

The mayor says the city needs to rethink the geography of the housing market. She described her vision for the future of College Mall and the East Side of the city. Thomson hopes to redevelop the East Side into a mixed-use area for housing. 

“I’ll tell you one of my ultimate visions for Bloomington is that we stop thinking in this way if we only have one downtown,” said Thomson. “So my ultimate vision for College Mall would be that it becomes vibrant again.”

Thomson closed the hour-long session by inviting residents to share input on housing initiatives through the city’s website and future town halls. The city will host a presentation on the Hopewell redevelopment at 3:30 p.m. on October 20th at City Hall.

Monroe County Election Board Discusses Early Voting Site and Polling Accessibility

The Monroe County Election Board met on Thursday, October 2nd. The meeting began with a brief citizenship update, followed by Election Supervisor Kylie Farris speaking on the voter list maintenance in Monroe County.

She followed by addressing concerns regarding the new early voting location.

They discussed having a backup location in case construction is not finished in time for early voting. Fleet and Facilities Director, Richard Crider, will be invited to the next Election Board meeting to help the board further discuss the facility opportunities. She then shared that she created a list of the elected officials that members of the public can easily access.

The Election Board then discussed creating an easily accessible map of the districts for citizens. Clerk Nicole Browne briefly touched on a concern that there will be redistricting ahead 2026.

Clerk Browne also continued the conversation about how to make polling more accessible in Monroe County.

Special Projects Coordinator, Michael Shermis from the City of Bloomington Council for Community Accessibility answered questions regarding this, as he was the one that presented the new program demo to the board.

The next Monroe County Election Board meeting will be held on November 6th.

Featured Segments:

The folks at Stages Bloomington take the old movie line, “Hey kids, let’s put on a show,” seriously. Stages is a local nonprofit that specializes in bringing young people – elementary and high school aged – into the theater. Annalise Cain has been hired as the organization’s teen programming coordinator. Cain, a former theater kid herself, works hand-in-hand with teens to develop and refine theatrical productions. Last weekend, stages presented a new musical workshop presentation, “Nevere’s Love Potion.” In today’s feature report, we feature an excerpt from our public affairs program, Big Talk, with host Michael Glab speaking with Annalise Cain. The full interview can be found on our website at wfhb.org.

Up next – we have Lil Bub’s Lil Show, a co-production between WFHB and Lil Bub’s Big Fund. That segment is coming up next on the WFHB Local News.

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