FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) – During Fort Wayne Mayor Sharon Tucker’s first extended interview with 21Alive News, she told evening anchor Amir Abbas that addressing the city’s unhoused population was top of mind.
As a former executive director at Vincent Village, Mayor Tucker attests to the fact that many are closer to living on the street than they may realize.
Amanda Fall, Fort Wayne’s Homeless Services Manager, conducted a point-in-time count over the summer and found the city has roughly 2,250 unhoused people. That number greatly exceeds the number of combined emergency beds available across several Fort Wayne shelters.
Fall said shelters are already feeling the strain with waiting lists getting longer. Fall also said rental & utility assistance programs that often help keep people from becoming unhoused are experiencing double the number of requests they had last year…