Local officials say a community-wide effort to confront homelessness has led to a reduction in the number of people in Bartholomew County without stable housing — including what they described as a 60% decline in homelessness over the past two years.
Launched in late 2023, the community-wide homelessness initiative is a partnership between United Way of Bartholomew County, the City of Columbus and other organizations in United Way’s social service network.
So far, the organizations in the initiative have helped a total of 82 previously unhoused individuals secure stable housing and have prevented an additional 67 people in Columbus from falling into homelessness, according to figures from United Way of Bartholomew County.
United Way of Bartholomew County President Mark Stewart characterized the reduction in homelessness as “very significant” but also acknowledged that major obstacles remain.
“We’re estimating what we have seen so far is about a 60% reduction in homelessness,” Stewart said. “…Of the people that we have rehoused so far, 58% of them are working, and so a lot of times, there’s kind of this perception that people who are homeless are not working, but in fact, most people who are homeless are, in fact, working … whether it’s working in restaurants or working in manufacturing.”
Over the last year, United Way has hired a case worker to do outreach with the homeless community. Additionally, the city of Columbus has created a Homeless Task Force that includes representatives from parks and recreation, police, community development and code enforcement.
The initiative has included building relationships with property owners willing to rent to tenants who might otherwise be excluded. Some landlords have agreed to lease units to residents working with housing coaches.
However, the county’s tight housing market remains a significant challenge.
The city’s recent housing study found that 64% of households earning under $50,000 spend more than 30% of their income on housing, placing them at risk of eviction or homelessness if any financial setback occurs.
“What we’re really thinking a lot about is the prevention piece of it,” Stewart said. “How do we prevent homelessness from happening in the first place? And a lot of it comes down to just we need more affordable housing.”
“Fundamentally, (homelessness) is the lack of affordable housing,” Stewart added.
United Way and its partners plan to assess existing housing options, evaluate projects already in the pipeline — including Thrive Alliance’s Haw Creek Meadows development and a project by TWG Development at 14th and Michigan Streets — and consider new approaches, including second-chance housing, sleeping rooms and shared housing models.
In addition, officials are also exploring a “tiny house” village with about eight units of deeply affordable housing, potentially renting for $500 a month or less.
But one of the biggest challenges to addressing homelessness in Bartholomew County is finding more help for homeless individuals who have mental health issues and/or substance use challenges, Stewart said.
Officials said additional work is underway to identify service gaps and align resources to better support individuals with “complex needs” mental health challenges.
“Someone who may have a mental health concern and that may be co-occurring with an addiction of some sort, and in addition to that, if that person is also homeless, living in a tent, that is just going to exacerbate the other two issues,” Stewart said. “And it really can be a wicked downward spiral that can be pretty hard to escape from. What we know is, the longer someone is homeless, the more difficult it is to help them find their way back. …When we’re when we’re talking about people who may have been homeless for multiple years, it gets harder and harder to help those people find their way back to stable housing.”