New housing plan for Bloomington’s ‘street homeless’ adds case managers, effort to stem inflow

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.

Continue reading “New housing plan for Bloomington’s ‘street homeless’ adds case managers, effort to stem inflow”

Bloomington posts 30-day deadline for encampment near Rail Trail, cites fire safety risks

On Monday this week, the city of Bloomington posted a 30-day notice to vacate the area at homeless encampments along the Rail Trail south of Country Club Drive and north of Gordon Pike.

That was a day before a storm blew through Monroe County, downing trees, powerlines and damaging several houses.

It will be the fourth significant encampment closure since the start of the year, when Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson first took office. The first came in early January, at a city-owned property on the northwest corner of the intersection of Fairview Street and Patterson Drive. The second closure came at the end of January, on a wooded stretch of city-owned property behind Wheeler Mission.

The third encampment clearance came in early May on public and private property at the southwest edge of Switchyard Park. Continue reading “Bloomington posts 30-day deadline for encampment near Rail Trail, cites fire safety risks”