How Indianapolis' new approach to homelessness is saving lives faster

Driving the news: Leaders from the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention (CHIP Indy) and the city of Indianapolis provided an update on the Streets to Home Indy program late last week.

• The program aims to end chronic homelessness in Indianapolis by 2028.
• The first phase of the three-phase effort wants to shelter between 300 and 350 people by this summer.

The latest: As of March 3, 114 people have been housed and connected with supportive services, including healthcare, mental health appointments and case management.

• On average, unsheltered individuals who engage with the program are placed in housing units in 27 days. Officials say the process previously took between 100 and 150 days.
• The program has also led to the closure of three homeless encampments.

Threat level: Last year's point-in-time homeless count recorded 1,815 unhoused people in Indianapolis, up from 1,701 in 2024 and the decade's second highest total behind 2021's count of 1,928.

Zoom in: Previously counted among them was Sherry Hoffman, a 53-year-old mother of three whose life was suddenly altered after her home was consumed by fire and her husband died on his birthday.

• With loss and homelessness came addiction and the fear that she would spend her final days alone on the street.
• "I didn't have time to grieve. I felt guilty for being alive. I didn't go back to work. I just gave up," Hoffman said in a testimonial shared with Axios.

Yes, but: She said the support provided by Streets to Home saved her life.

• She is now more than 119 days sober. She even hosted Thanksgiving dinner at her new home for the people she lived alongside at the homeless camp near the Tyson plant on Pleasant Run Parkway.
• "It's a two-way street. You can't leave all the work on them … but they can get you back to society," she said. "They can get you back to feeling like a human being again because living in a tent, you don't feel like a human being."

State of play: Adding a sense of urgency to this work is Senate Enrolled Act 285, legislation that will ban camping, sleeping or living on public streets and grounds statewide this July.

• Proponents say the goal is to connect people in need with services, but critics say it essentially criminalizes homelessness.

What they're saying: Chelsea Haring-Cozzi, CEO of CHIP Indy, said that compelling people into care is presented as a goal of the legislation, and Street to Home hopes to work alongside the Statehouse and see lawmakers invest in this work.

• "But we are not supportive of (solutions) that criminalize people for being outside," she said. "We know housing and services are the right solutions. Sitting in jail because you're unhoused is not the right solution."

What's next: Program leaders are working to raise the final $360,000 they need to hit their summer goal.

• Phase one is an $8.1 million commitment funded by $2.7 million from the city, $2.7 million from the Housing to Recovery Fund and $2.7 million from corporate, faith-based and philanthropic donors.
• The cost to establish one household through Streets to Home is about $21,000.