A problem you can't hide

For more than two years, a group of 70 or so homeless Indianapolis residents lived in a tent city underneath a downtown bridge.

The community — known by its residents as Irish Hill — was the city’s largest homeless community.

All of that changed Aug. 26, when its tenants were evicted. Residents of the area had complained ceaselessly that the tents were an eyesore, and the owner of the bridge had been unable to inspect it for safety for more than a year.

But the homeless Hoosiers don’t believe they got a fair shake.

Maurice Young, the camp’s de facto leader who was arrested Monday for refusing to leave the camp, argued, “I think it’s important we make this stand because in the past, it’s always been this game of ‘hide the homeless’ and that needs to come to an end.”

Although we’re sympathetic to the city’s reasons for clearing the camp, we’re also sympathetic to Young and the four non-homeless advocates arrested with him. Indianapolis has about 1,600 homeless citizens. Bloomington has about 250. These citizens deserve more than to be “hidden” while the area lobbies for another Super Bowl.  

The good news is that Indianapolis — and homeless advocates — made a good faith effort to find programs to help the homeless. The bad news is that the programs were only moderately effective.

The problem, according to Christy Shephard, executive director of the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention in Indianapolis, is that many homeless people have mental health issues.

When the city offered them housing assistance, many refused. The numbers vary by source — the Indianapolis Department of Public Works claims that 50 people took advantage of shelter and housing options, while Shephard says that number is 25. The rest merely went to other tent cities around town.

Our point is that homelessness is a tough nut to crack because it leans so heavily on the complex issues of poverty, mental health, personal responsibility and property rights. If we as a nation knew what to do about homelessness, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

So, we’re not here to prescribe policies to Indianapolis or to judge the steps taken.

We’re merely asking city officials from Indianapolis to Bloomington to keep in mind that keeping your city pretty should come second to treating its citizens fairly.

So, when, over the summer, Bloomington officials mandated that nobody was allowed on the grounds of Courthouse square after 10 p.m., we hope that wasn’t a cosmetic choice. We hope Bloomington continues to offer housing options to its homeless population.  

And we hope that as Indianapolis lobbies for another Super Bowl, it doesn’t resort to hiding its homeless. They deserve better.

­— opinion@idsnews.com
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