In Indiana, 5,258 people are homeless on any given night.
5,258 of our brothers and sisters.
That translates to 8 unhoused people per 10,000 in the general population.
Broken down further:
- 3,776 of them are individual adults
- 1,482 are family units
- 268 of them are underage and alone youths
- 539 of them are veterans
- 449 are chronically unhoused
Some say that number may be higher now, in light of the pandemic. The challenges facing individuals living in poverty have increased in both number and complexity in this past year alone.
Chronic homelessness—having at least one disabling condition and being consecutively unhoused for at least one year or at least four times in the past three years, with a cumulative time of one year—increased by 6% over the previous year.
“Homelessness is really the ultimate failure of so many other systems,” said Chelsea Haring-Cozzi, Ph.D., executive director of the Coalition for Homelessness and Intervention Prevention.
SVdP strives to help our homeless neighbors by providing meals and much-needed items for survival on the streets: blankets, socks, coats, hats, etc. Additionally, when someone comes to us for assistance, we work hard to either meet the need or put them in touch with local partners for housing, food stamps, jobs and more.
3 Ways You Can Help
- Volunteer for Beggars for the Poor, where we go out every Saturday to meet the homeless where they are and offer items and encouragement.
- Serve at the Distribution Center on Wednesday or Saturday mornings, where we provide a warm meal, necessary items and try to connect them with other local services
- Donate needed items at one of our blue bins (svdpindy.org/i-want-to-help/find-a-clothing-bin/) or our Distribution Center (1201 Maryland St.) between 10-4, Mon-Fri.
- Bar soap
- Deodorant
- Foot spray
- Calf socks
- Fingernail clippers
- Washcloths
- Hand towels
- Toilet paper
- Baby wipes
- Pens/pencils/notebooks
- Reading glasses 200+
