Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
On any given night in Indianapolis, hundreds of our neighbors sleep outside — exposed to freezing winter temperatures, summer heat and the daily uncertainty of life without shelter. Behind the data and trendlines is a stark reality: People are sleeping under bridges, in encampments or wherever they can find a measure of warmth and safety. Each person carries a story shaped by family, hopes and setbacks. Streets to Home Indy is changing hundreds of those stories and changing the story of how homelessness can be addressed in our community.
When people lack safe housing, the effects ripple outward. Health declines. Access to care becomes inconsistent. And the longer someone remains unhoused, the harder it becomes to reconnect them to the systems that support well-being. Research consistently tells us that people experiencing homelessness face a mortality risk that is 3.5 to 4.2 times higher than the general population and can lose 20 to 30 years of life expectancy. Addressing homelessness through targeted efforts that help people quickly move from the streets and into housing is a public health necessity and essential to the long-term health of our neighbors and our cities.
The belief that no one should live or die on our streets because they are homeless is what led to the launch of Streets to Home Indy, a citywide initiative focused on ending chronic and unsheltered homelessness in Indianapolis by 2028. Phase 1 focuses on a 12-month targeted effort to help more than 300 unsheltered people move from the streets into stable housing. The goal is simple: to ensure our unhoused neighbors have a clear, humane path from the street to stable housing.
Fueled by local government, faith, corporate, individual and philanthropic support, Streets to Home Indy aligns partners and supporters around a clear plan to move people from the streets into stable housing. Led by the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention & Prevention of Greater Indianapolis, known as CHIP, the initiative works site by site to connect people living in encampments and on our streets directly to permanent housing with intensive and individualized supportive services. Outreach teams meet people where they are and move as quickly as possible from first contact to move-in day, ensuring that no one is left navigating this process alone.
That’s why the Lilly Foundation is proud to be one of the supporters of CHIP. Stable housing is one of the most powerful drivers of health. By removing the instability of life on the streets, the Streets to Home Indy initiative creates conditions for better physical and mental health from day one. CHIP is addressing homelessness as the health crisis it is, advancing solutions that treat people with dignity and strengthen our city for generations to come.
The results? Progress is already visible. In just a few months, the initiative has helped more than 135 people move into housing, connected them with housing stability case managers and closed multiple encampments. Ninety-two percent of people offered housing have said yes, and it’s taking an average of just 26 days from first outreach to moving into a home.
Streets to Home is also about compassionate care. Once housed, participants receive personalized case management and access to services that help them stabilize and rebuild. Already, more than 70% of those housed through Streets to Home Indy are now able to address their health needs, including preventive care and treatment, which were previously out of reach.
Complex challenges like homelessness cannot be solved by any one sector alone. For decades, the Lilly Foundation has focused on supporting charitable organizations and their charitable efforts to strengthen communities and improve health, particularly for the most vulnerable. Homelessness undermines both. When housing is treated as a foundation, people are better positioned to pursue employment, manage health conditions, and reconnect with family and community.
Streets to Home Indy shows what can happen when the community comes together, across sectors and industries, to choose action over resignation. Supporting this initiative reflects a shared belief that solutions to homelessness must be compassionate, coordinated and sustained. The corporate and philanthropic communities have a meaningful role to play by supporting housing capacity and the supportive services that help housing last and by inviting more stakeholders to the table to open pathways to long-term housing stability in Indianapolis.
Ending street homelessness will not happen overnight, especially given the number of people in Indianapolis still in need of safe shelter. But progress is already underway — and it is changing lives. This is the moment for all of Indianapolis to rally behind and scale up what is working.•
__________
Cardona is president of Lilly Foundation. Haring-Cozzi is CEO of the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention & Prevention.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
Editor's note: You can comment on IBJ stories by signing in to your IBJ account. If you have not registered, please sign up for a free account now. Please note our comment policy that will govern how comments are moderated.