Starting this summer, Indianapolis leaders plan to close all the homeless camps and makeshift shelters across the city and place the roughly 350 people living in them into supportive housing.
The $8.1 million effort centers on a new alternative to closing encampments that does not entail sweeping away people’s belongings and pushing them into unstable living situations, city leaders say. It’s the first phase of a multi-year initiative, called Streets to Home Indy, to end unsheltered and chronic homelessness by 2028 for the quarter of homeless residents who fall into either category.
Over the next year, street outreach teams from local nonprofits like Horizon House and city agencies will engage in a four- to six-week process during which they will visit camps, direct residents to housing units and offer case management. Once everyone is housed, the city will clean up and close camps…