It depends on your current needs and situation:
- If you are hurt or in imminent danger, call 911.
- If you are actively fleeing domestic violence, call 1-800-332-7385.
- If you are a youth (under 18) or young adult (age 18-24), call YOUTHLINK at 317-699-1994.
- If you are sleeping outside or in your car and are seeking shelter or other immediate resources, please call Indiana 2-1-1 or visit online. To call, you can dial 211 or (866) 211-9966.
Additional crisis lines and hotline numbers can be found here.
People lose their homes for a myriad of reasons: home fires, domestic violence, job loss, deaths in the family, etc. None of these should necessarily result in homelessness. Ultimately, we see homelessness because we lack a sufficient inventory of safe, affordable housing.
Data shows Indianapolis is successfully slowing the increase in homelessness compared to national numbers. There are key demographic differences.
Often, our shelters are at or over capacity. When there are open shelter beds, there are many reasons they may be inaccessible to residents sleeping outside.
No. Years of research has shown that criminalizing homelessness – through camping bans, citations, and similar policies – does not improve housing outcomes. In fact, these policies can exacerbate harm to residents.
It’s in the name! If we want less homelessness, we must connect residents to homes and tailored services that empower them to keep those homes.
Streets to Home Indy is an initiative working to end chronic, unsheltered homelessness in Marion County.
Rolling out in three phases, Streets to Home Indy is actively working to (a) support residents sleeping outside in getting permanent housing and increasing provider capacity, (b) assist folks in shelters in finding and securing housing, and (c) build robust diversion programming so Indy residents don’t enter the homeless response system.
More information on the phases of this work can be found on the Streets to Home section of our website. For additional Streets to Home Indy questions, please reach out to Niki Wattson, our Director of Streets to Home.
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