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People who are currently or recently living at the homeless camp on Leonard Street in Fountain Square will be prioritized in the city’s new push to get people off the streets and into housing, the Office of Public Health and Safety announced Friday.
Officials had placed closure notices at the site on July 25, which gave the approximately 25 people living in the area until Aug. 11 to vacate. Multiple reports indicated that the closure date wasn’t enforced by authorities, but that some residents had moved out, anyway.
The closure sparked concerns from local advocates and community leaders that it contradicted the goal of the Streets to Home initiative, a multi-year initiative led by the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention, or CHIP, to end unsheltered homelessness. The first phase is an $8.1 million push to end street homelessness, beginning by rehousing up to 350 people by next year. When the calls came to clear the Fountain Square camp, city leaders said the initiative, which launched this summer, didn’t yet have the bandwidth to house a camp of this size.
But Chelsea Haring-Cozzi, CEO of CHIP, said in a written statement Friday that the initial 10-person pilot was successful and her organization was able to work with city leaders and partners to “accelerate our timeline.”
“We are prepared to bring real solutions to those impacted by the Leonard Street closure,” she said. “This is exactly what Streets to Home Indy is designed to do—address encampments through housing solutions, not displacement. With growing capacity, we are ready to meet the moment and connect those at Leonard Street to stable housing.”
Outreach workers will now turn their attention to those who lived at Leonard Street. That includes people currently still living at the site, as well as people who have moved on to live elsewhere.
Office of Public Health and Safety spokesman Brian Heinemann said in a written statement that the workers have a list of names for those who lived at the camp as of the July 25 closure, even if they moved elsewhere. The city is advising that no other individuals move to the camp, as only those on the current list will be housed.
Streets to Home is a multi-year initiative led by CHIP in coordination with stakeholders across the city. The first phase is an $8.1 million push to end street homelessness, beginning by rehousing up to 350 people by next year.
The ultimate goal of the Streets to Home initiative is to house all of the people living in outdoor camps, then permanently close these camps. This process should take about four to six weeks at each camp, according to CHIP.
The pilot encampment, at the former Black Mountain industrial site on the city’s near-east side, was closed last week.
A broad coalition of stakeholders work together in this process. In the pilot, Horizon House conducted outreach and provided case management services to camp residents. Rdoor Housing Corporation, an apartment developer, is assisted in housing navigation, unit identification, landlord engagement and rental assistance administration.
The Indianapolis Department of Public Works, the Department of Metropolitan Development, and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department’s Homeless Unit supported closure maintenance.
Police will continue to patrol the area and respond to any reports of criminal activity, while workers from Keys2Work, a nonprofit that employs formerly incarcerated individuals, will clean the area until all residents of the camp move into housing. The Department of Public Works will conduct a final cleanup once it is vacated.
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Pity whoever has to maintain the housing for these addicts–or, even worse, the neighbors who get stuck living next to this. Unless they are forcibly sobered up, they will treat any shelter/hotel/subsidized private house the exact same way they’ve treated these tents. It will be squalid, crime-ridden, and will exceed capacity so the extras are forced to build their tweaker camps right out front. Much like the “low barrier” shelter the City is planning to ghettoize multiple blocks on the near southeast side.
One thing is for certain: since no private or nonprofit organization is going to want to assume the liability of taking in these often violent and unsanitary junkies, the City will take it on, as financed by the taxpayers. And unless there’s strong political will (yeah right), no effort will be made to treat their addiction, so it will be money flushed down the toilet.
Indy’s financial commitment to helping the homeless is a fraction of what they implement in San Francisco. And what does the City by the Bay have to show for itself?
What would you propose as a solution? Disappear them to the el Salvadoran gulag? Magic them away? Do you ever have any actual ideas or are you just a tired parrot of suburban Republican talking points. Maybe Hogsett should bus them to Hamilton County and drop them off at the city center.
Amen Lauren!!!!!!!
Research has shown that the vast majority of homeless people aren’t drunks or drug addicts. But sure Lauren, let your hate fly.
You are correct Lauren! The city is so poorly run the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing! Is this new initiative being spearheaded by RDoor Housing Corporation, a direct result of the City and the Mayors office dumping RDoor as their partner in the low barrier project? I bet so because the city can’t manage anything let alone any type of housing. Let the professionals and business people run the show and not politicians and bureaucrats. Something positive might come to fruition!
Better yet Michael, how many can you host at your home and in your neighborhood?
Why would I host them? I don’t have a problem with the encampments bc I understand that homeless people exist and if you don’t offer resources, they do what they have to do. How many can YOU host?
All you people are able to show is that you hate homeless people and wish they didn’t exist. But they do. What potential solutions can you offer??
Tell them to go to work or if they can’t because they’re mentally off, then time to build homeless hotels where they are managed and receive mental health care. Geeeeeesh!!!!!
Maybe you should feel the pain directly. I blame the boss.
They bought an acre of land for this no farther than 25 feet of my home. Walk down the south alley at shelby at E georgia.
I bought this neighborhood 12 years ago for my future. I have no access down the public alley to access my lots. You call this responsibiliry?
The city can buy out my tenant filled remodeled building but wont.
This is all the City’s responsibility.
We dont hate homeless. We arent happy with the administrators of the fix. And its true that many dont want to be fixed. Shouldnt they be taught to at least pick up trash? Have you spoke to them to see how they manipulate disability?
Or maybe pay them to pick up all the trash in the mile square? Its said maybe they should live next door to you.
The city obviously also wishes they didn’t exist since they get them out of downtown whenever there is a big event and post event it is business as usual. RDoor being involved is the best solution.
have you been in an RDoor managed building? I have been in about 4 of them and they are all shitholes and poorly managed.
Theyre currently selling a lot of them because of how badly they are maintained
A problem within the city’s plan is that a good share of these people DO NOT WANT to live in a housing situation with rules. Whether that’s no substances, curfews — whatever, they’re not going to do it.
There has to be a lot of outreach to try to help the hard cases (and there are lots of hard cases) and that’s expensive. I hope the city makes a commitment here but we’re not winning the war so far.
Agreed MR. C.
No, Michael N. Open your freaking wallet and kick in money. Or let them camp out in your front yard!!! The city is worthless in dealing with the problem. The city can’t even complete something simple like mowing weeds in its street right-of-ways. The dudes in the Fountain Square camp have attacked some residents. That’s a safety matter, simply solved……move the camp immediately to a city park. Ohhhh, a city park, oh how horribly inhumane. That addresses Curt C’s comment that these people don’t want to be held to any rules in actual livable facilities. I’ll bet the Mayor of Carmel or Westfield or Fishers wouldn’t be putting up with any homeless encampments like Hogsett and the idiot city-county council drags the matter on and on. Naptown again, or NapJoketown!!!!
Open your wallet and let them camp in your yard. What are we doing here?
It’s a little more nuanced than what you attribute to me. *Some* of the people are going to be, no way. And with support services, some of those can probably be converted. So if you’re the city, you have to have housing, housing personnel and outreach personnel. And other ‘outpatient services’, etc. — I’m not an expert. But the city should have an understanding of the task at hand. Whether they commit the funds to it is another matter.
Curt has compelling points. We also can’t underestimate the responsibility of the state in facilitating our current dual mental health and affordability crises
The state and the county should have never close Central State Hospital on west Washington Street. Most groups today only want to enable the homeless people and don’t want to address the true issue. Until the enablers are a victim of dealing with the homeless people, they will never get it. They are dangerousness, filthy, inconsiderate, addicts, and mostly mentally ill. No one wants these folks living in there neighborhoods and any individual that shames people for standing up to protect their property value should be ashamed! If you are such a do gooder, invite them to your neighborhood.
For all of you with pity on the mayor.
I lived and built my home and business next to the site they bought for the hu
HUB. No one in the city came to talk with the few neighbors about their plan.
Now last week, 10 tents showed up on my property line. No notice. If they cared about the residence or my properties, the least they could do is house them in the building they bought for this mess. I hold the mayor and RDOOR resonsible for how he and they treated us.
You work 12 years into 76 years old for retirement to have the city do this to you.
We have made a breakthrough. Vigorous debate on a total Lib Dem created boondoggle and not one mention that the evil orange man was responsible. We are growing up.
What has the $8.1 million been spent on? This is not a story but a press release.
Exactly. This is how the leaders of the community, residents and even the unhoused in the neighborhood find out what’s happening in Fountain Square. God forbid the city actually communicate directly with any of the stakeholders.
For the people complaining about these homeless people being drunks and drug addicts, as if that’s their problem: you’re wrong. Their problem is in the name for them: they don’t have a home. If we built them places to stay, they would, by definition, not be homeless anymore. And the idea that if you’re a drunk and a drug addict, you are incapable of staying in a home is flatly ridiculous — Jim Irsay’s home is currently on the market for 10 million dollars. Certainly more than the value of an old camping tent.