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”

2024 count: Doubling of ‘street homelessness’ in Monroe County’s region compared to 2023

Every January, the IHCDA (Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority) helps organize a PIT (point in time) count of people experiencing homelessness in the state of Indiana.

Released last week, the results from this year’s PIT count show a doubling of unsheltered people (aka the “street homeless”) in Monroe County’s region of Indiana, compared to the 2023 PIT count.

Monroe County is part of Region 10, which also includes Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Morgan and Owen counties. About 75 percent of the total homelessness count for Region 10 is contributed by Monroe County.

In raw numbers for Region 10, the number of unsheltered homeless people grew from 73, as measured in the 2023 PIT count, to 142 in 2024.

The total number people counted as homeless in Region 10 also grew, from 427 in 2023 to 456 in 2024. But that’s a 7 percent increase, compared to the 100 percent increase in the unsheltered count. Continue reading “2024 count: Doubling of ‘street homelessness’ in Monroe County’s region compared to 2023”