(The Center Square) – Nearly 2,000 Indiana people in families with children are estimated to be experiencing homelessness, the annual federal homelessness report says.
By definition for this federal analysis, people in families with children means “people who are experiencing homelessness as part of a household that has at least one adult (age 18 or older) and one child (under age 18).” The estimate is 1,834.
The state’s change in the assessment of 2023 is 10.4% from 2022, and minus-18.2% from 2007.
The 2023 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report is conducted by the Office of Community Planning and Development within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It is provided to Congress and is generally referred to as the Point In Time count. Key metrics are housing inventory count; national, state and continuums of care counts and estimates of homelessness; and estimates of homeless people, veterans, children and youth.
Through volunteers across the country, a single night is measured. The night chosen was in December and found 653,100 – 20 in 10,000 – were experiencing homelessness throughout the country. That’s up 12%.
“Experiencing homelessness” for definition in this report is “a person who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.” An “individual experiencing chronic homelessness” means a person with a disability who has been continuously experiencing homelessness for one year or more, or “has experienced four episodes of homelessness in the last three years where the combined length of time experiencing homelessness on those occasions is at least 12 months.”
“Unsheltered homelessness” refers to those whose “primary nighttime location is a public or private place not designated for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation.” Examples are streets, vehicles and parks. “Sheltered homelessness” is people staying in emergency shelters, transitional housing programs or safe havens.
Total homelessness in the state was pegged at 6,017, with 80.7% (4,856) sheltered. The report says 9 in 10,000 people are experiencing sheltered homelessness.
The report estimated 488 veterans are homeless. Other homelessness estimates are 4,183 individuals; 219 unaccompanied homeless youth; and 715 chronically homeless individuals.
