At the mic is Mary Morgan (Heading Home of South Central Indiana). Seated at the dais are: Tatiana Wheeler (Heading Home of South Central Indiana), Carrie Stillions (Middle Way House), Emily Pike (New Hope for Families and Chair, South Central Housing Network), Dana Jones (Wheeler Mission), Melissa Burgess (HealthNet Homeless Initiative Program), Kerry Thomson (mayor of Bloomington), Forrest Gilmore (Beacon, Inc.) (Aug. 6, 2024)
Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson (Aug. 6, 2024)
North-south road next to the Rail Trail looking northeast. (Aug. 6, 2024)
On Tuesday, a new housing action plan was unveiled at a press conference at Bloomington’s city hall.
The press conference was held by Heading Home of South Central Indiana, Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson, and heads of a half dozen nonprofits that provide services to homeless people.
The plan focuses on the “street homeless” (aka the “unsheltered homeless”), as contrasted with those who are currently staying in a shelter, but don’t have a permanent place to live (aka the “sheltered homeless”).
Elements of the plan include: coordinated outreach; more money for case managers; increased efforts to prevent homelessness in the first place; an increase in the number housing units with rents under $500/month; and an effort to reduce the inflow of homeless people from outside the area that includes Monroe County and the counties next door to Monroe.
File photo of Seminary Park on Jan. 14, 2021, the day of the second park clearance by the city of Bloomington. For the mid-January park clearance, notice was posted as shown in the photo for “on or about” Jan. 11. No postings were made for the early-December clearance. (Dave Askins/Square Beacon)
The council could take a provisional vote, but there won’t be a vote on the question of enactment.
The law was proposed by city council sponsors Matt Flaherty, Kate Rosenbarger, and Isabel Piedmont-Smith, after a decision by Bloomington’s mayor, John Hamilton, to clear a Seminary Park encampment in early December and again in mid-January.
Highlights of the proposed new law include a requirement of 15-day notice before a camp displacement. Another requirement is that sufficient alternative housing be available for people living in the encampment.
A common thread in statements made in the past week, by some significant community players who oppose the law, is the idea that it is important to find longer-term solutions to the problems of homelessness.
The ordinance itself includes a longer-term perspective, because under the proposal, the city could not displace a camp unless there is sufficient available “permanent housing” or “transitional housing” as defined by federal HUD regulations.
That means emergency shelter does not count towards sufficient available housing, for the purpose of displacing an encampment.
