Mayor Hogsett could end chronic homelessness in Indy by the end of his last term
If he decides to step up, take leadership, and follow a plan that works supported by national data. He’s choosing not to.
This article, from Brookings, Despite a national spike in homelessness, some US regions are finding solutions, is correct, there are some cities making progress in getting people housed. To include Indianapolis is disingenuous and flat wrong.
A recent WFYI article, “I’m proud of the work that’s been done here.” HUD Deputy Secretary visits Indianapolis to understand outreach to unhoused is an egregious example of Indianapolis’ attempt to call a victory when little has changed. Politicizing the Point In time Count is in bad taste, especially using last year’s numbers in the vacuum of a single years’ worth of problems. Homelessness statistics are measured against a mean and it’s just flat wrong to claim the actual homeless numbers are down. Chelsea Haring-Cozzi, the Executive Director of the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention (CHIP) commented that while, “… it could be read that Indy’s numbers are down, there’s been a 77% increase in unsheltered homelessness.” Her comment gets totally lost in all the hoopla and indicative of what we’re likely to see when this year’s Point In Time numbers come out. Mirror Indy recently reported, Indianapolis pledged to end homelessness, but not much has changed.” The title says it all. Former Indy Star reporter Ko Lyn Cheang reported in 2022, “Out of 32 Midwestern cities and regions, Indianapolis is one of only four that had an increase in the number of both people experiencing homeless and people who are unsheltered from 2011 to 2020, according to an analysis of federal Department of Housing and Urban Development homelessness point-in-time count data provided to IndyStar by independent researcher and homelessness policy advocate Kirk Taylor.” We have not seen a decrease since 2020.
The National Alliance to End Homelessness reported in 2018, “Emergency shelters play a critical, often life-saving role in providing a safe place for people experiencing a housing crisis. But providing a shelter bed alone is often a temporary, inadequate fix to homelessness.” The data is clear - shelters don’t lessen homelessness - permanent, secure housing does. Shelters move the unsheltered out of site and only temporarily.
The mayor is fixated on the new low barrier shelter which, without state funding is unsustainable. And it’s likely that Indy will lose that promised 2023 budget funding from the state thanks to the Indiana Apartment Association and HB1199. The city is going to build a shelter with no money to run it. It’s all just theater. Nearly all homelessness experts agree we don’t need another shelter - we need permanent housing. The $12M the city has allocated to move the homeless population out of sight could provide permanent housing and services for hundreds.
There is a plan to end chronic homelessness in Indianapolis in 3 years, using Milwaukee as a template. A group of business, civic, city, and religious leaders met last May with Jim Mathy, administrator for the Milwaukee County Housing Division and Sam Tsemberis, the “father” of Housing First. Housing First has detractors who refute its efficacy. The real data is irrefutable - Housing First ends chronic homelessness and has powerful downstream impacts on episodic homelessness. And, in the long run is far cheaper than how we “do it now.” Mathy said to me, “Indy is way ahead of where Milwaukee was when we started.”
The key in all the cities who’ve made major dents in homelessness is leadership from their mayor. Pastor David Greene and I met with the Mayor Hogsett and Lauren Rodriguez on the 10th of January to encourage him to step up as the convenor and leader of this initiative. He could end chronic homelessness by the end of his last term. We got the same tropes and talking points named in the WFYI piece. Hogsett is either incapable or unwilling to make the hard, unpopular decisions it takes to make change. National housing trends portend a climate of worsening conditions in all areas of housing. Homelessness is always the end result of these housing issues and our city leadership is choosing to follow Einstein’s parable of quantum insanity, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
