• Pallets of cereal
• Whole wheat pasta and sauce
• Organic canned vegetables and soup
• Several other household items

The Threshold Project is a Shelter Plus Care permanent supportive housing program that was initiated in 2004. It combines supportive housing services with comprehensive case management and job training support. The Threshold Project is a sponsor-based rental assistance program that serves 42 chronically homeless individuals with a disabling condition including serious mental illness, chronic addiction, or a co-occuring disorder.  All 42 individual apartment units are leased at a single site, the Gladstone Building, a property owned and operated by Partners in Housing, a not-for-profit developer.

The Ralph Dowe Legacy Housing Project provides on-going case management and resource coordination for formerly chronically homeless persons transitioning from homelessness to permanent housing and self-sufficiency. Currently, HIP provides services to 16 chronically homeless individuals housed in one-bedroom units in the North Oaks of Broad Ripple apartment community. Using a housing first approach, Dowe clients are moved directly from the streets or emergency shelter into permanent housing. Once they are housed, HIP staff works with them to address the underlying issues of their chronic homelessness.

The donation from Whole Foods Market’s Bag Hunger campaign provided much needed food to those housed in one of our programs. Educating our clients on maintaining a healthy lifestyle is essential to helping them “get back on their feet.” By providing them the opportunity to take part in eating healthy, furthers their success for the future.

You can also help directly by donating to HIP online or raising awareness about resources for the homeless within our community!
Comment below if YOU have an idea on how to BAG HUNGER for those in Indy who need it or know of other resources for the homeless.

In an article from the Detroit Free Press, it was noted that the average stay in a homeless shelter has dramatically declined.

“[A]verage stays dropped from four months to 28 days since summer,” Executive Director [of South Oakland Shelter], Ryan Hertz, said.

In an earlier post, I touched on the importance of the ‘housing first’ approach.  Getting someone housed takes a weight off of their shoulders and allows them to focus on utilizing support services they may need to overcome addiction or mental illness.  “In Detroit, Southwest Counseling Solutions used the approach to find permanent housing for more than 600 mentally ill clients in the last five years, Executive Director Joseph Tardella said.”

People with mental illness or addiction can not simply be asked to stay in a shelter and be expected to recover or suddenly act responsibly.  Only in rare cases can people recover by themselves under these circumstances.  Indiana took initiative in 2003 and came up with the Blueprint to End Homelessness focusing on housing first and housing plus (affordable housing plus support services).

What do you think the pros and cons are for the housing first approach? Comment below.

An excellent video and article done by Bob Woodruff and Ian Caemeron for ABC News captures the feelings of three of these homeless veterans.

“It was embarrassing,” [Jose] Pagan says.  “Honor, pride, duty, loyalty, all these things that we — that kick in as a soldier, you know. And then to find yourself here,” as he points to the park benches where he slept for almost two months.

Jose was one of the soldiers highlighted in this report.  The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) tries its best to make sure no veteran is left alone when they come home, but there are plenty of gaps that some may fall into.  The VA even seems to think the number of new homeless vets may be greater than 9,000.

“The military is beginning to understand why more veterans are homeless. ‘I think we have to do a better job of ensuring that all soldiers, not just those that are seriously wounded, are informed of the services that are available to them and so none of them leave the service and find themselves in a situation where they have nowhere to live,’ the Vice Chief of the Army General Peter Chiarelli told ABC.” – from  the ABC News report.

Helping Veterans should top our list when thinking about housing the homeless.  These people gave the ultimate sacrifice to serve us and our country.  They deserve a fighting chance when they come back home. Help HealthNet serve the veterans.  Our Homeless Initiative Program (HIP) has the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program (HVRP) that provides employment training and home search services.  Donate directly to HIP or help raise awareness for homeless veterans everywhere.

What if you said you couldn’t help someone get rid of their headache because you didn’t have any aspirin? You feel bad for a little bit because you couldn’t help someone in need, but it is just a headache.  They’ll survive.

What if you said you couldn’t shelter someone from the rain or the snow or a thunderstorm because there was no place for them to go?

Cindy Maple, the Executive Director of Hospitality House in Western Nevada,  wrote an article in The Union expressing these exact sentiments.

“I was working in a job where I was supposed to help people and I had nothing I could offer.” -Cindy Maple

The lack of resources for the homeless is present throughout the entire nation.  There are many organizations that work to help the homeless, but it is hard to get anywhere because the amount of affordable housing is stagnant and is becoming less available with the increasing amount of homeless persons we have seen.

Indianapolis’ Blueprint to End Homelessness has gotten our community on the right track.  The amount of affordable housing has increased in the past 5 years. HOWEVER, the amount of supportive housing has increased at a much, much lower level.  Supportive housing is affordable housing plus services that help those who need health care, mental health care, employment training, and more.

You can help provide more resources to the homeless organizations right here in Indianapolis.  Help by raising awareness about the lack of resources, or directly GIVE A CARE by donating to HealthNet’s Homeless Initiative Program.

A lack of resources has always been an issue when talking about serving or housing the homeless, and it can not be easy to tell someone who just needs a warm place to say that there is nowhere for them to go!  And it is even harder to watch capable human beings, such as veterans who are coming home, become chronically homeless because of the lack of support services present to help them land on their feet.  Services that are needed to help those who are on the brink of becoming homeless or the recent homeless are case managers and employment training groups.  All it takes is some education to get a person back to where they need to be.

Veterans gave the ultimate sacrifice by giving their lives and time to protect those of us living in freedom in America.  The least we could do is help support them as they ease their way back into civilian life.  HealthNet’s Homeless Initiative Program has a Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program (HVRP) that provides a variety of support services for the VA.  Support services that include a Guided Job-Search workshop to help those in need find a job that fit them best.

Find out how you can help by learning more about HealthNet’s Homeless Initiative Program and the HVRP, or help directly by donating at HealthNet’s website.

Housing First is an approach that kind of flip flops the logical way of thinking.  Many of us think that in order to obtain a home, one should 1) be sober, 2) have a steady paying job, and 3) be in a stable state of mental health.  However, in order to serve the homeless who suffer from the lack of one or multiple things listed above, caregivers need to have a place to find these people and offer a sense of stability.

In 2003, the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention (CHIP) rolled out the Blueprint to End Homelessness,  a ten year strategy to “ increase supportive housing, expand prevention services, and move the focus from emergency responses to lasting solutions.”  This strategy takes the right steps in focusing on getting the homeless housed FIRST and then providing the services as a complement.

From the CHIP website -

“[Housing First]  promotes the idea, supported by leading researchers, that housing is essential for people experiencing homelessness to attain stability and should not be used as a reward for achieving stability.”

Indianapolis has been meeting the Blueprint’s goals in terms of affordable housing; however, in terms of supportive housing, we are lacking.  Supportive housing, according to the Blueprint, includes “case management and a variety of temporary or ongoing social and other services to ensure that people residing in those units live as independently as possible and can sustain their housing.”

HealthNet’s Homeless Initiative Program (HIP) works closely with homeless persons to find affordable housing.  Our program also offers case management, employment classes and workshops, and health care.  SUPPORTIVE HOUSING is possible.  And with your help, it can have a greater impact on our community.

• Spread the word about homelessness prevention.
• Donate here because  $25 can provide a homeless citizen bus fare to get to and from work until they receive their first paycheck.