The Republican-controlled Indiana House Ways and Means Committee voted to advance a bill that would repeal the economic enhancement district that Democrat-controlled Indianapolis city government approved last month. The committee chairman offered a new Marion County income tax as an alternative.
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House Bill 1087, authored by Rep. Justin Moed, D-Indianapolis, would require the Indiana Department of Correction—with some exceptions—to return offenders to the county where they lived when they were convicted.
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Many parts of downtown are thriving—particularly neighborhoods, where rents are rising, people have to stand in line for a lunch table, and investments are flowing. Other parts—especially downtown’s central core, where many workers might come to the office only once or twice a week—are limping along, pockmarked by vacant storefronts, panhandlers and crumbling sidewalks.
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Wheeler Mission is set to open an expanded center for homeless women and children that will nearly double the space for services, add 160 short- and long-term beds, and enhance programming.
Read MoreThe economic enhancement district is projected to raise $4.65 million a year in taxes to pay for downtown-focused improvements and programs and fund the operating costs of a low-barrier homeless shelter planned on the southeast side of downtown.
The city is preparing to break ground in the next few months, but some housing-first advocates say the shelter doesn’t further the housing-first goal because it won’t include permanent-housing options.
The city of Indianapolis says it has no plans to change the way it deals with homeless residents, despite a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows cities to move, ticket or arrest people sleeping on the streets.
In a 6-3 decision, the high court reversed a ruling by a San Francisco-based appeals court that found outdoor sleeping bans amount to cruel and unusual punishment.
Under the new law, owners of apartments and single-family homes are exempted from the tax unless they decide to opt in to paying the tax, leaving potential for a large decrease in available funds.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday will weigh whether punishing people for sleeping outside when shelter space is lacking is unconstitutional.
As an alternative, the House approved a separate measure that would allow the City-County Council to increase the countywide local income tax by .02% to help pay for the operating costs of a homeless shelter and various improvements in the city’s Mile Square.
It’s unclear if lawmakers are open to rolling back the measure, which was slipped into the 2023 state budget without public input. However, the push for a change has a powerful ally in former Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma.
The city wants to build a “housing hub” that will include the city’s first low-barrier homeless shelter on 11 parcels at the intersection of Shelby and East Georgia streets.
The purchase consists of three parcels and was made in partnership with Indianapolis-based not-for-profit Rdoor Housing Corp. (formerly Merchants Affordable Housing Corp.), an affordable housing developer.
The annual census of the city’s houseless population found 1,619 unique individuals who were unsheltered, sheltered or in transitional housing.
Indianapolis plans to pilot a low-barrier shelter on city-owned property and create a master leasing program in which the city would lease units on behalf of property owners to low- or no-income individuals.
The death count is 91% higher than in last year’s Zoom-only ceremony, which recognized the deaths of 87 people.
The report from the Indianapolis Office of Public Health and Safety says the new shelter should offer a high level of access and feature a concentration of services meant to help homeless people get back on their feet.
The pandemic changed just about every aspect of Lori Casson’s job as executive director of Dayspring Center.
Mark Bode, deputy communications director for Mayor Joe Hogsett, said the impetus behind the notice is that “encampments and storage of personal property in the Circle are blocking pedestrian traffic and causing disruption to nearby businesses.”
The usual plan, which involves packing people closely on as many cots and mats as Wheeler Mission’s shelters can hold, isn’t an option under social distancing guidelines.
For weeks, camps of people experiencing homelessness and those suffering from substance use disorders have settled in on Monument Circle and near City Market.
The four-story project will also feature office space for Horizon House, which is located adjacent to the site and has provided services for homeless individuals since 1990.
Indiana received more than $30 million in the latest round of federal funding, on top of $23.8 million it was allocated in January.
