INDIANAPOLIS — Volunteers are working to measure the number of people who are experiencing homelessness throughout Marion County.
The Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention (CHIP) is conducting its annual Point-in-Time count. The count is taking place throughout the week. The official date of the count was Monday. When the data comes, the count will reference that specific night.
“It's a single night annual snapshot of homelessness in cities across America,” said CHIP Executive Director Chelsea Haring-Cozi.
“It tells us where are people showing up, shelters or unsheltered locations who is out there in terms of demographic, we look at singles, families, men versus women,” Haring-Cozi added.
Between 2020 and 2021, the city saw a 21% increase in the one-night count.
“It's a way that communities can look at how homelessness changes year over year,” Haring-Cozi added.
CHIP partners with organizations such as Horizon House, a multi-service day center, to help conduct outreach to those experiencing homelessness.
“Folks can come in and start on outreach, we can talk to them about services who are here in the community, how do they access those services, where are they, types of services that are out here," Horizon House Executive Director Teresa Wessel said.
Wessel says nearly 35% of the people they saw last year are brand new. They typically don’t see more than 20%.
“For us at Horizon House, we saw 6,000 people last year. So we were up not quite 10%,” Wessel added.
Horizon House and CHIP work to help people who are experiencing homelessness like Donnie Cole, who said he's been "on and off for the past five years."
Cole is currently finding shelter in an encampment off of Raymond Street on the south side of Indianapolis. On Friday, Feb. 4, he will be forced to move as INDOT will be cleaning out the area.
There are a number of services for people who are experiencing homelessness. Here are a few:
