A team coordinated by the city of Indianapolis and housing groups recently finished its annual census of the city’s homeless population.
Indianapolis and other cities conduct a Point-in-Time Count every year in January, and the results offer insight into how much — or little — progress the city is making in addressing homelessness.
This year, the count started Wednesday, Jan. 24, and ran through Sunday, Jan. 28. Results are expected to be released in late spring.
How the count works
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires communities that receive federal funds to complete an annual census of their homeless populations. HUD gave the city $9.9 million in 2023 to support affordable housing projects.
Most of the work happens on the first night, when a group led by the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention (CHIP) conducts a one-night count of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness. The group then follows up with service centers over the next four days.
The follow-up period previously lasted one day, but it expanded because of the pandemic. CHIP Executive Director Chelsea Haring-Cozzi said they’ve kept the same approach to remain consistent and have comparable data coming out of the pandemic.
Another benefit to the follow-up days, Haring-Cozzi said, is obtaining a more accurate and comprehensive count.
What past counts have found
The number of homeless people has remained mostly unchanged since 2013, when the census turned up 1,599 people. Last year, the census found 1,619 people were experiencing homelessness. The highest number recorded was 1,928 in 2021, which was the first post-pandemic count.
In 2018, Mayor Joe Hogsett announced an ambitious plan to effectively end homelessness by the end of 2023.
But Indianapolis fell short of that goal by many metrics, including the length of time someone remains homeless. The goal was no more than 30 days, but data submitted to the federal government shows the length of time has actually increased since 2018.
What’s next?
The census provides useful information about homelessness trends because the data includes details about a person’s age, race, gender and other information.
The city and service providers use that data to figure out where the greatest needs are and how to get people into stable housing.
For example, one persistent problem found in the count was that Black people were overrepresented among the homeless population. The Indianapolis Continuum of Care, a coalition of housing advocates, set a goal last year to reduce Black homelessness by 35% by 2025.
The count will eventually help inform services and outreach strategies at a planned emergency shelter, which could open in 2026. Funding for the shelter is in doubt, though, as the Indiana General Assembly is considering a bill that would repeal a key source of funding.
Mirror Indy reporter Tyler Fenwick covers economics. Contact him at 317-766-1406 or tyler.fenwick@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @ty_fenwick.
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