Indianapolis cuts low-barrier homeless shelter occupancy to 150
(MIRROR INDY) — The maximum capacity at a planned low-barrier homeless shelter on the southeast side of downtown Indianapolis will drop significantly as service providers put more emphasis on long-term solutions and prepare for a drop in expected funding.
Now, the city’s Office of Public Health and Safety is capping occupancy at 150 people, down from 250. The space for a cafeteria and kitchen will be reduced, too, but an area for wraparound services and a housing navigation center will be larger than originally planned.
Andrew Merkley, the city’s director of homelessness policy and eviction prevention, said at a recent Continuum of Care board meeting that the tweaks are in response to feedback from service providers who support solutions such as more affordable housing. Continuum of Care is a coalition of housing advocates that helps guide the city’s response to homelessness.
Chelsea Haring-Cozzi, executive director of the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention (CHIP), told Mirror Indy the shelter is meant to be supplemental to others that already exist. The goal isn’t to replace them.
For years, part of the motivation behind adding shelter beds was that other shelters had strict religious and moral standards that discouraged people from going.
But some shelters have loosened those guidelines.
The biggest gaps in the local shelter system, Haring-Cozzi said, exist for larger families, people with pets and couples who might be separated.
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“Let’s be really clear on the gaps we’re trying to fill in the current shelter system,” she said.
Data from CHIP shows local shelters were at 97% capacity this year through March 31, not including Wheeler Mission. A spokesman for Wheeler said a technology issue has prevented the organization from exporting data.
Funding uncertainty
It isn’t just provider feedback driving changes to the shelter.
The city also will likely have to contend with less money generated from a downtown funding district that would pay for services such as street cleaning and homelessness outreach after Indiana lawmakers made changes to it during the last legislative session.
After intense lobbying from the Indiana Apartment Association, homeowners and apartment building owners are now exempt from paying the tax.
The new law also voided an existing funding district the City-County Council had passed. An estimated $1.5 million would have been earmarked for operating the shelter each year.
Councilors will have to pass a new ordinance and reconfigure the funding formula.
Funding was a lurking problem already for the project.
The Rev. David W. Greene Sr., who chairs the Continuum of Care board, told Mirror Indy $1.5 million wouldn’t be enough to operate a 24/7 homeless shelter and provide wraparound services through a connected housing hub.
Greene floated the possibility that the shelter occupancy could be even lower than 150.
The focus, he said, needs to be on permanent solutions to housing.
But the project has already lost one key housing component. Aside from a shelter, original plans for the project called for 40 supportive housing units — or housing that’s combined with services to help people maintain stability. Those units aren’t part of the plan anymore, Greene said, because it wasn’t financially viable.
What’s next?
Indianapolis will apply for a $20-million state grant that lawmakers earmarked to build a low-barrier homeless shelter.
The City-County Council also allocated $12 million in the 2022 budget for the project.
Mirror Indy reporter Tyler Fenwick covers economics. Contact him at 317-766-1406 or tyler.fenwick@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @ty_fenwick.