Vocal supporters of a new homeless shelter coming to Fountain Square outnumbered opponents at a neighborhood meeting Wednesday as city officials continued to pitch the project to residents.
Claudia McPete was one of the first people to step to the microphone at the Southeast Neighborhood Development meeting after a presentation from the project developer and representatives from Mayor Joe Hogsett’s office.
“I think everything you’ve presented on is so necessary,” McPete said, “and really, really important.”
The low-barrier shelter will be part of a housing hub that also includes wraparound services such as health care. There will also be a short-term leasing program, where people can live in temporary units while they wait to get into permanent housing.
The project comes as Indianapolis nears the end of a failed five-year plan to effectively end homelessness.
McPete, who lives near the Wheeler Mission men’s shelter, told Mirror Indy she didn’t even know about the meeting until she saw a flier intended to get people to speak out against the project.
But McPete was far from alone in her support.
The 27-year-old engineer got an applause from the crowd inside the Southeast Community Services building when she finished speaking.
“I walked in thinking everyone there was probably a landowner,” McPete said, “more motivated by property values and perceptions rather than necessarily everyone’s health and safety.”
A few people did allude to how the project might affect property values, but meetings like the one in Fountain Square aren’t for residents to convince the city to drop the project.
The city has already purchased land for the site near the corner of Georgia and Shelby streets just east of Interstate 70, and the Indianapolis City-County Council has allocated $12 million for the project and approved an annual fee for downtown property owners that is expected to support operations.
Bryan Conn, vice president of development at the nonprofit RDOOR Housing Corporation, which is the developer for the new shelter project, said the meetings are a chance for people to give feedback on design and how the shelter should operate.
Still, John Mavris, who said he owns a home that butts against the project site, said he’s concerned about the impact on economic development.
“It’s not what you’re doing,” said Mavris, 74. “It’s where you’re doing it.”
But the project may not cause property values to take a hit, according to an analysis included in the city’s presentation.
The analysis looked at property values in the area surrounding Wheeler’s women and children shelter on the near east side, which the organization updated and expanded in 2021.
Comparing the three years before development to current trends, the analysis showed a 114% increase in the median sale price for properties within a quarter mile of the shelter.
That was a sharper increase than Marion County as a whole, which climbed 40% from November 2019 to November 2023. The median sale price around the shelter, though, is still about $30,000 less than the rest of the county.
Conn said that isn’t a guarantee that property values will increase around the new shelter. Rather, he said, it shows that property values won’t decrease.
Either way, some who spoke at the meeting said speculating on property values was putting too much emphasis on money instead of helping people.
David Bacon, pastor at New Vision Missionary Baptist Church in the Christian Park neighborhood, referenced the parable of Dives and Lazarus from the Book of Luke, which tells the story of a rich man who ate well while a poor man died of hunger.
“Now, I would ask us the question,” Bacon said, “do we love our money and don’t love people?”
He, too, earned an applause.
What’s next?
The city will continue to take questions and comments at neighborhood meetings.
Brittany Crone, director of community outreach in the mayor’s office, said there will be another presentation Jan. 18, 2024, at a Twin Aire Neighborhood Coalition meeting.
The shelter project is still in the early phases. There isn’t a design yet, and the land will need to be rezoned from industrial to commercial special, Conn said.
The plan is to break ground at the site next summer and for construction to take up to two years, depending on the design.
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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