Funding for homeless has decreased from $12.7M to $3.57M

Two years can make a huge difference.\nWith great fanfare, Gov. Mitch Daniels held a news conference to accept a ceremonial, oversized check that included $12.7 million in federal grants for programs serving homeless people around the state. That was 2005.\nBut when Indiana received its latest federal homeless funding, it had little to celebrate. Funding plummeted to $3.57 million, or just 28 cents on the dollar compared with 2005, to feed and house homeless Hoosiers, train them for jobs and provide other services.\nAs state officials and advocates prepare their request for the next round of funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, some say the state needs to start putting money toward affordable housing if it expects to bring home a greater share of the federal grants.\n“It should be a call to action for all of us, but especially the state of Indiana, to make an investment in people who are most vulnerable and most at risk,” said Michael Reinke, executive director of the nonprofit Indiana Coalition on Housing and Homeless Issues.\nHe said at least 60,000 Indiana residents are homeless at some point in a year’s time.\nOthers see it differently. Rodney Stockment, who has a key role in preparing the state’s request for the limited HUD homeless funds, said homeless programs seeking federal grants need to find other money – not only from the state but from their home communities, foundations and other sources – so Indiana’s application scores better.\n“When it’s a limited pot of money, it’s very competitive,” said Stockment, community services manager at the Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority.\nHUD announced Feb. 20 that it was distributing more than $1.2 billion in Continuum of Care grants to thousands of local programs across the nation. Besides the $3.57 million received for programs across Indiana, Indianapolis collected $4.28 million after submitting a separate application. Emergency shelters received an additional $3.05 million.\nBut none of eight new projects proposed for Bloomington, Fort Wayne, Evansville, Gary, Kokomo, South Bend, Bloomington and other communities received HUD approval, and 37 existing programs that had come up for renewal received only a single year of funding rather than the normal multiple years.\n“It’s been really very disappointing to us,” said Linda Baechle, executive director of the YWCA of St. Joseph County, which was seeking $393,750 over three years to add six apartments to the eight it now has for women with chronic mental illness, developmental delays or physical disabilities.\nStockment, Reinke and program heads like Baechle say Indiana’s funding dropped for a number of reasons:\n–Many of Indiana’s homeless are families, but HUD places more priority on those considered “chronically homeless” – single individuals with disabilities such as mental health problems who have been homeless for at least a year. They comprise 10 percent to 20 percent of the homeless population but use half of all services.\n–Indiana does not score well when it comes to leveraging other sources of funding to complement HUD funds. Indiana was prepared to match 92 cents for every $1 of HUD funding, but HUD required $2.\n–Indiana needs more affordable housing for low-income families and individuals.\nReinke’s coalition, which helps prepare the state’s application to HUD, reported last week that many people resort to homeless programs because the state does not have enough affordable housing. In the first three months of the year, more than 3,200 heads of households entered programs across Indiana. Of those, 30 percent had stayed the night before with friends or family, 19 percent had been in their own or rented homes, and 11 percent had come from a jail, hospital or substance abuse treatment center.\n“While many people think of homelessness as a personal crisis, there is a statewide lack of affordable housing with dire consequences,” Reinke said.\nUnlike its four neighboring states, Indiana does not put any money toward affordable housing, he said.\nLegislation that would have generated millions of dollars in such funds each year cleared the Indiana House of Representatives 62-36 this session but did not receive a committee hearing in the Senate, and it appears dead. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jeb Bardon, D-Indianapolis, said it died in the Senate because builders and real estate agents objected to a provision that would increase county recording fees for mortgages and deeds to raise the housing funds.\nSo now it’s back to the drawing board. Stockment said he has enlisted the Chicago-based nonprofit Corporation for Supportive Housing to help Indiana on its new application, which is expected to include more than 60 projects seeking HUD funding. The corporation helped Chicago score well in the last round.\nBut Baechle and other program chiefs know that getting all the funds Indiana needs won’t be easy.\nChristian Center Rescue Ministries in Anderson doesn’t take HUD funds because it bars them from proselytizing, Executive Director Scott Richards said, but if other HUD-funded programs shut down, he’ll feel the impact.\nHis agency houses 54 men, women and children and will serve an estimated 60,000 meals this year.\n“We didn’t get hit by the torpedo, but we’re standing on the same boat,” Richards said.