More than 120 people gathered at Yes Cinema on Wednesday night to share their thoughts about potential solutions in helping those experiencing homelessness, including the possibility of creating permanent supportive housing units in Columbus.
The public forum inside the Kalsi Conference Center was attended by community-members of all walks of life and organized by United Way of Bartholomew County.
It was the first public input session since the non-profit released a report detailing that homelessness “is becoming more visible” and “will likely worsen” if immediate action isn’t taken.
“As we all know, homelessness is a complex topic and there are no easy solutions,” Mark Stewart, president, United Way of Bartholomew County, said in remarks at the beginning of the forum. “There is no single idea that will fix it, there is no single organization that can tackle it on their own and it will not happen overnight— but together I believe that we can make the situation much better than it is.”
During the forum, attendees circulated around to five different stations with presentation boards describing different strategies for addressing homelessness. Examples of where they had been implemented with success were included as well, and attendees attached notes with their assessments of the ideas.
“You’ll be talking together and we’ll be voting on what solutions you think we should dig a little deeper on to learn more about and evaluate if they might be right for our community,” Stewart said.
Everyone was given four blue coins to put towards solutions they were interested in. Each station also had sign-ups for work teams, who will flesh out some of the proposed ideas.
The report and Wednesday’s public forum are part of United Way’s homelessness initiative, brought about through a partnership with the City of Columbus.
The initiative sets forth a goal that homelessness in the community reach a state of “functional zero,” meaning more people will be escaping homelessness each month than those who become homeless. Another key component is that homelessness be rare, brief and non-recurring, United Way officials have said.
Step one of the initiative was to create a shared understanding around the facts and narratives of homelessness in Columbus. That step has been largely completed— now United Way is leading an effort in what Stewart described as “shared community problem-solving.”
Every station was labeled with a broad-stroke solution for homelessness, followed by more refined ideas for how to do so. The stations were:
• Make more affordable housing available and accessible.
• Ensure support is available when needed.
• Support renters and landlords. Prevent evictions.
• Financial assistance for urgent housing needs.
• Explore temporary housing models like tiny home villages.
One that garnered sizable attention (and blue coins) was the potential for a tiny home village housing model.
A couple thoughts people offered on post-its next to the tiny home village presentation board included: “Identify affordable housing models and partner with C4 within BCSC to build.”
Another wondered: “Does zoning allow this?” A third: “Social services need to go along with this housing opportunity.”
Several of the examples described at the stations— including permanent supportive housing, a street outreach program, eviction prevention and rental assistance— are tentatively earmarked to receive federal funds. On the day before the forum, Columbus City Council members agreed to direct $2 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds to affordable housing initiatives and the implementation of programs identified during United Way’s initiative.
The rough breakdown of the allocation is as follows, although city officials emphasized it is still subject to change:
• Rental Assistance and Homeless Response ($50,000)
• Supportive Housing ($300,000)
• Eviction Prevention ($75,000)
• Street Social Worker program (currently being piloted: $75,000)
United Way’s report is the groundwork for what’s to follow and provided an overview of the homelessness situation as it now stands.
About 140 people in Columbus are homeless on any given night, according to the report. Of those individuals, about 80 spend the night at local shelters, while the rest sleep in their cars, the report states.
It found that several factors are contributing to homelessness and housing insecurity in Columbus, including a “significant lack of rental housing available for less than $700 a month, and an even greater shortage of rental housing below $500 a month.”
In addition, the report outlined how there are currently more than 500 local residents on the wait list to get federally subsidized housing in Columbus. The typical wait for a subsidized unit is nearly two years.
Other key findings from the report include that current social service system needs better alignment and additional resources to effectively support those in need, and that the stigma attached to homelessness can hinder understanding and support in the community.
A memo sent to council members about the allocation of ARP funding had sparse details regarding what is currently the largest share of the funds being directed to homeless initiative programming— permanent supportive housing, which Felipe Martinez, pastor, First Presbyterian Church, discussed during remarks Wednesday.
“That model, which is currently not available in Columbus, is a housing-first kind of model, an approach that would provide permanent housing to the most vulnerable, to the chronically homeless folk who are part of our community with low or no income, and low barrier to come in,” Martinez told the gathering. “And it provides targeted support services to help those residents develop self-sufficiency and overcome barriers to long-term housing stability.”
While that type of housing isn’t available in Columbus, that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been efforts in recent years to make it so.
In 2017, Thrive Alliance, in partnership with Centerstone Behavioral Health and the city, had a purchase-agreement in place to create a permanent supportive housing complex for those experiencing homelessness at the former Faith Victory Church building.
But there was significant backlash from neighbors in the surrounding residential area who made varying claims about the potential inhabitants of the would-be facility, saying that the housing would call into question their safety.
The proposal fizzled out and the property was later purchased by Sprague Rentals in 2019 and turned into Home Avenue apartments, an up-scale, market-rate apartment complex.
Martinez said Wednesday that the prospect of such a permanent supportive housing facility is back in play.
According to the pastor, the housing committee at First Presbyterian Church has partnered with “an experienced non-profit developer” who will lead a team, including community partners, and apply for funds from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA) to help with financing.
If funds are ultimately approved, it would mean the creation of permanent supportive housing units in Columbus “in the next couple of years,” Martinez said, adding that he’d likely have more information sometime at the beginning of 2025.