Indianapolis Helps Launch Effort To Connect Homeless With Permanent Housing

Indianapolis officials Wednesday helped launch a new initiative to connect the homeless population with permanent housing opportunities. The effort is one part of a recently-developed five-year plan to end homelessness in the city.

Service providers conducted a so-called Coordinated Entry System Blitz downtown, where they worked to add people to a housing waitlist.

Rodney Stockment, the city’s senior strategy director for homelessness, says it’s a case-by-case challenge to identify who needs help.

“That was really kind of the point, so we can start differentiating between people in the shelter and people on the street, and really aim our resources at people on the street, very directly,” Stockment says.

A large part of the plan to end homelessness is getting people into permanent supportive housing, which is also the focus of this effort. But until more of that housing is created, most on the growing waitlist will have nowhere to go.

Stockment says the Coordinated Entry System Blitz will be a regular event. He says the next area they plan to cover is Garfield Park.