Local agencies and national estimates suggest that perhaps 40 percent of homeless adults suffer from mental illness or addiction. In a recent survey of local homeless adults, about 20 percent of respondents reported having serious mental illness or addiction problems, but fewer than half said they received treatment. And a recent report prepared for the Blueprint to End Homelessness noted that the availability of addiction treatment to homeless and near homeless people is “low at best.”

Street outreach and services to substance abusers need to be increased to better serve the many chronically homeless people who do not make use of the shelter system. Intoxicated persons currently are incarcerated at the Marion County Lockup, with no provision for treatment. Creating a shelter for these people would increase their access to treatment and also free up much-needed space in the jail system. Such a facility, known as an engagement center, sober up station, or wet shelter, also would provide temporary refuge for homeless people whose drunken state makes them inappropriate to be housed in emergency shelters.

A majority of homeless individuals who abuse alcohol were diagnosed with an alcohol use disorder in the year before they became homeless. Homeless people who live on the street, compared to those living in shelters or other housing, are more likely to report frequent use of alcohol or drugs and are at higher risk for illness and fatalities. They are also less likely to report treatment for substance abuse.