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I can guarantee there are more than this number is saying. If you go along the bike path on the white river you’ll see hundreds and maybe close to 1000 homeless people that basically set up an entire town. The city is extremely fumbling the ball on this issue. Fountain Square is being overrun. There are areas where you can’t even walk past without being harassed or having to dodge needles or other unwanted filth. And if anyone thinks I’m exaggerating I would like you to go walk along the path by the river or go to Fountain Square. It is insane what these people are allowed to get away with.
I totally agree. Drive under the new overpass on washington that proudly advertises HOLY CROSS.
Then drive down East street at Ohio outside of wheeler mission.
Either build fuŕnished homeless apartments or use abandon apartments. Youve had time to figure this out.
Outlaw outdoor camping or obvious loitering when temp housing is a available.
These people are either mentally ill or have bult themselves a mental new set of domestication beliefs. Both are the same at some level.
Start treating them with a realistick set of expectaions.
it is already illegal to camp in indianapolis. it is also illegal to be openly doing drugs in plain sight. The city has basically given the homeless community a free reign on doing whatever they want to do whenever they want to do it while us tax payers that actually love this city have to pay for everything and follow actual laws.
1. We have to stop making comments that insinuate that all homeless people just are just anarchists or don’t want to be tax paying, productive citizens in the city. There are so many people that are a few missed paychecks away from being homeless. Let’s stop attacking these people and actually focus on the true issue which is the massive income inequality that continues to grow due to greed and a lack of citizen awareness.
2. I bet our homeless number drastically increases over the next few years due to these newly instituted economic policies by this administration. Sad really.
Mike I really don’t think you have any clue what you are talking about. These camps aren’t people down on their luck. They aren’t just people having a bad time. These people are literally strung out on drugs from the moment they wake up til they go to sleep. They are not functioning members of society. If they were maybe they would have a friend or a family member to help them, to stay with. These folks have burned every bridge, every relationship, they had because of their actions. No normal sane person is just going to go sleep in a tent (where are they getting them) on the side of an interstate.
So all homeless people in Indianapolis are strung out drug addicts who cannot function in society? Sheesh. What a statement!
I urge all people to get outside their bubbles and truly get active in the community. The lack of empathy all across the country makes me sad honestly.
Mike–
95% of the homeless in these encampments are junkies. Plain and simple. To pretend otherwise is to live in a bubble.
People who are down on their luck will indeed go to shelters, but most shelters (except for the “low-barrier” delusion that the City is financing for the southeast side) don’t want to accommodate open drug users because of their violent tendencies and the liability.
Suicidal empathy does nothing for these people. Show us how much better you are than the rest of us, and let a few of these junkies take your guest bedrooms.
They need help, but the best way to “get active in the community” is to arrest them (since they’re all breaking the law already) and place them in mandatory rehab. Coddling them is killing them with compassion.
Why won’t liberals take them in?
I’m going to keep repeating myself even though I always get pushback, but you all are heading towards the same problem as California. Housing is getting too expensive, demand is outpacing supply, and more people will become homeless as a result. This is actually happening nationally.
You need to vastly increase the number of apartments in places like Downtown, Broad Ripple, and Carmel to avoid it. I specify those places (add in all other existing developed areas) because your traffic will look like LA or Houston if you keep building neighborhoods on agricultural land in places like Sheridan. When I came back to visit last summer, it was actually worse than SoCal traffic, but 465 was partially shut down.
It’s interesting how Indiana is always 20-30 years behind either coast. It’s funny when talking about fashion, but it’s definitely not funny when you’re talking about income insecurity and homelessness. Build the housing right now or this becomes a bigger issue soon.
To be even more specific, I am not even talking about low income housing. That should definitely be a component, but even building more market rate apartments helps drive prices down.
LOL. Wesley with his acquired wisdom of the coasts! Indiana being “20-30 years behind either coast” meaning we should become the open cesspool that is California, where 50% of all urban parks are overtaken by homeless? Where homeless breaking into homes in formerly nice neighborhoods is a routine? Where 60% of people need fancy gates around their houses to keep out the miscreants?
Keep repeating yourself, Wesley. You were wrong then and are wrong now. For 20 years, California has been a textbook example of what NOT to do.
We all know the reason California has had a 30-year persistent housing shortage, and it isn’t getting articulated by normie coverage from the IBJ, any more than California’s business journals. California induced its own supply shortage by created an unnecessary strain on demand through some activity that took place south of San Diego, and 2020-24 leadership inflicted the California plague on most of the rest urban America.
These people aren’t becoming homeless because of housing shortages. Giving them housing won’t fix anything. They need 30 days tied up to a bed with a wood block in their mouth.
It’s 95 degrees today and these poor people are languishing in the sidewalks of Indy’s downtown. For the love of God, quit planning and do something! It’s true supply can reduce rents eventually but not when you only build high rent units. We don’t need criminalization of homelessness, but there is no apparent urgency to gather resources to help the homeless regardless of why they have ended up there. Last point, this situation is not only unsafe for the homeless but for people to live, work and visit downtown Indy.
You no doubt have a nice home with A/C. Why not put a dozen or so in your spare rooms? Some sleeping bags and air mattresses would cover things for a few more, once your couches fill up. Show us how good you are, Katrina.