On any given night in Indianapolis, there are over 1,700 individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
Upwards of 55% of those people are African American; 20-25% are children. Temporary shelters and transitional housing facilities are at capacity. We must move past simply managing homelessness and find a way to end homelessness in our community. The long-term and stable solution is permanent supportive housing comprised of three components: 1) a financial subsidy 2) a designated rental unit 3) case management and wrap-around supportive services that provide each individual or family the assistance and guidance needed to be healthy and remain housed.
Indianapolis has enough rental subsidies (government vouchers) and new dedicated apartments to house over 400 people. But, our continuum of care system lacks the social service capacity to provide the needed case management and intensive wrap-around services. The Housing to Recovery Fund will fill that gap by providing capacity-building contracts to homeless service agencies to fully support newly housed individuals and families. This is a moral imperative, but also an economic one. Housing the chronically homeless population reduces emergency room costs, police and incarceration expenses and increases both physical and mental well-being.
CICF, in partnership with the City of Indianapolis and Coalition for Housing Intervention and Prevention (CHIP) and Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) will administer these grants using a pay-for-success model that only invests in housing stability outcomes (staying housed for over one year). The results to date are proving this model as the true solution: We have 97% housing stability. We have over 75% of participants enrolled in a healthcare plan. We have nearly 70% of participants going to behavioral health or primary care physician appointments each year. And, police runs and jail stays have been reduced by 75% or more.
Join us in the solution to ending chronic and unsheltered homelessness by contributing to the Housing to Recovery Fund. For more information, contact Rob MacPherson at RobM@cicf.org.