The Republican-controlled Indiana House Ways and Means Committee voted to advance a bill that would repeal the economic enhancement district that Democrat-controlled Indianapolis city government approved last month. The committee chairman offered a new Marion County income tax as an alternative.
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House Bill 1087, authored by Rep. Justin Moed, D-Indianapolis, would require the Indiana Department of Correction—with some exceptions—to return offenders to the county where they lived when they were convicted.
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Many parts of downtown are thriving—particularly neighborhoods, where rents are rising, people have to stand in line for a lunch table, and investments are flowing. Other parts—especially downtown’s central core, where many workers might come to the office only once or twice a week—are limping along, pockmarked by vacant storefronts, panhandlers and crumbling sidewalks.
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Wheeler Mission is set to open an expanded center for homeless women and children that will nearly double the space for services, add 160 short- and long-term beds, and enhance programming.
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As an alternative, the House approved a separate measure that would allow the City-County Council to increase the countywide local income tax by .02% to help pay for the operating costs of a homeless shelter and various improvements in the city’s Mile Square.
It’s unclear if lawmakers are open to rolling back the measure, which was slipped into the 2023 state budget without public input. However, the push for a change has a powerful ally in former Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma.
The city wants to build a “housing hub” that will include the city’s first low-barrier homeless shelter on 11 parcels at the intersection of Shelby and East Georgia streets.
The purchase consists of three parcels and was made in partnership with Indianapolis-based not-for-profit Rdoor Housing Corp. (formerly Merchants Affordable Housing Corp.), an affordable housing developer.
The annual census of the city’s houseless population found 1,619 unique individuals who were unsheltered, sheltered or in transitional housing.
Indianapolis plans to pilot a low-barrier shelter on city-owned property and create a master leasing program in which the city would lease units on behalf of property owners to low- or no-income individuals.
The death count is 91% higher than in last year’s Zoom-only ceremony, which recognized the deaths of 87 people.
The report from the Indianapolis Office of Public Health and Safety says the new shelter should offer a high level of access and feature a concentration of services meant to help homeless people get back on their feet.
The pandemic changed just about every aspect of Lori Casson’s job as executive director of Dayspring Center.
Mark Bode, deputy communications director for Mayor Joe Hogsett, said the impetus behind the notice is that “encampments and storage of personal property in the Circle are blocking pedestrian traffic and causing disruption to nearby businesses.”
The usual plan, which involves packing people closely on as many cots and mats as Wheeler Mission’s shelters can hold, isn’t an option under social distancing guidelines.
For weeks, camps of people experiencing homelessness and those suffering from substance use disorders have settled in on Monument Circle and near City Market.
The four-story project will also feature office space for Horizon House, which is located adjacent to the site and has provided services for homeless individuals since 1990.
Indiana received more than $30 million in the latest round of federal funding, on top of $23.8 million it was allocated in January.
The city of Indianapolis on Wednesday was awarded $6.3 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for initiatives and organizations that aim to eliminate homelessness.
Sports executive Allison Melangton had never led a capital campaign before Wheeler Mission asked her to chair its $12 million fundraising effort.
Democratic incumbent Joe Hogsett and Republican state Sen. Jim Merritt participated in a discussion about homelessness at the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention annual fundraiser and awards presentation on Wednesday evening and were asked about what they would each do to improve the homelessness situation in Indianapolis.
At least 70 people died in Indianapolis last year who previously experienced homelessness, the highest number ever recorded by the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention.
A proposal to ban people from sitting and lying down in the Mile Square failed to gain approval in a City-County Council committee meeting Tuesday. The vote took place on same day the mayor announced a plan to dedicate $500,000 to take on homelessness and downtown safety.
Proponents say the plan would curb panhandling, but critics say it would unfairly target the city’s homeless population.
