Michelle Shelburne: Homelessness solutions must address range of need

I appreciate our state leaders discussing ways to end our growing crisis of homelessness, but criminalizing sleeping on public land through a misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail or a $500 fine isn’t the answer. Still, that’s what Senate Bill 285 is going to do now that Gov. Mike Braun has signed it into law.

As someone who has worked professionally and as a volunteer with people experiencing homelessness for more than 25 years, I can say that most individuals left without viable housing options will not be motivated by the threat of fines or jail time. If a safe, affordable, permanent housing option existed for them, they would take it.

We need elected officials to think more broadly about who makes up our homeless population and about support programs designed to serve sub-populations.

The key is that different people need different solutions.

Last July, our city launched Streets to Home Indy, an $8.1 million public-private partnership pairing housing placements with case management and connections to additional resources. Since then, more than 100 people living on our streets have secured leases through this initiative. It is a courageous and commendable effort, but it won’t be enough.

My experience tells me this approach will be more effective for some forms of homelessness and less effective for those who are closest to my heart: our chronically homeless neighbors with the most complex needs.

I founded Sanctuary Indy because I saw a troubling pattern. Programs that helped hundreds exit homelessness did not work for this particular group. Due to behaviors caused by a combination of physical, mental and developmental disabilities, I’d see the same individuals cycle in and out of housing. Not long after moving into a unit, they’d call my office again needing a new placement. When I spoke with colleagues about a new placement, I was told, “They need a higher level of care.” The problem is that there is no higher level of care.

Alongside the effective programs we already have, which have kept non-chronic homelessness in Indy flat over the last six years despite ever-increasing evictions, we need programs built specifically for our most vulnerable neighbors — a sub-population of homelessness that is growing toward crisis.

This issue is personal. Over the last four years, I have been a “big sister” to “Lynn.” After being hit by a car as a child, she has lived with a traumatic brain injury that affects her cognition and emotional regulation.

For years, she survived in abandoned buildings, often with acquaintances who took advantage of her mental impairments. When I found her, she was pregnant and in the depths of addiction to methamphetamine. Some days, she would call me dozens of times; other days, she’d disappear, and I feared for her safety. I was with her when her son was born and when child services took him away. I have walked alongside her through housing placements and rehab facilities.

Building trust with Lynn has taken enormous time and consistency. Supporting the hundreds of people like her who are living in our city will require dedicated, sustained investment.

For lawmakers who supported SB 285 because they believed it would decrease homelessness, I urge you instead to support resources along the spectrum of need: from security deposit assistance for those who are working and just need a little boost to secure a lease to initiatives like Streets to Home Indy, all the way up to relationship-based, intensive supportive housing with around-the-clock staffing.•

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Shelburne is the founder and executive director of Sanctuary Indy, a nonprofit that serves chronically homeless individuals and families.