Gary is putting roughly $1.4 million toward a new homeless shelter at a moment when the availability of a bed could mean the difference between a place to sleep and a criminal charge.
The City Council approved the money for Brothers’ Keeper as a new Indiana law raises the stakes for people sleeping outside. They can now face jail time for sleeping on public land but cannot be charged if no shelter bed is available within 5 miles.
The council assembled the funding by reallocating $256,758 in residual city incentive pay, $400,000 from the Broadway Area CDC fund, and $821,083 originally earmarked for a Lake Street sewer project. The sewer work will still move forward but will now be paid for by the Gary Sanitary District instead of federal American Rescue Plan Act funds…