INDIANAPOLIS — The statewide annual count of individuals experiencing homelessness took place on Wednesday, Jan. 29. Service providers and volunteers in local communities across Indiana conducted the 2025 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count for the Indiana Balance of State (BoS) Continuum of Care (CoC) in 91 of the 92 counties in the state. Marion County (Indianapolis) conducts its own PIT Count.
The purpose of this annual count of people experiencing unsheltered or sheltered homelessness is to provide an easy-to understand data point that helps state and local leaders measure progress toward ending homelessness and helps plan services and programs to appropriately address local needs. The sheltered count is conducted at emergency shelters, transitional housing and safe haven projects across 16 regions that make up the Indiana BOS.
In late December 2024, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released its 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report: Part 1: Point-in-Time Estimates, an annual snapshot of the number of individuals in shelters, temporary housing, and unsheltered settings across the nation. The report found more than 770,000 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2024, an 18% increase from 2023. The 2024 count in Indianapolis found 1,701 individuals experiencing homelessness in Indianapolis on Jan. 24 last year — a 5% increase over the previous year and the first increase since 2021.
Also in December, the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA) Board of Directors announced multiple awards directed at improving housing stability for Hoosiers. The Board allocated throughout the state $2,256,800 to help operate shelters and provide essential services to shelter residents, $110,000 to allow qualified agencies to provide services and case management to people experiencing homelessness, and $1,401,846.80 to rapidly re-house individuals and families by providing short-term to medium-term rental assistance, financial assistance and funds to help prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless.
According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, in 2023 a household had to earn at least $20.48 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment at market rates.
There are several factors that cause people to become unsheltered: evictions, loss of income, rising rents, lack of affordable housing, physical and psychological barriers to housing, substance abuse, cuts to public assistance, lack of personal support networks nearby, and domestic violence.
Indianapolis offers assistance to help people experiencing homelessness. Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention partners with several organizations in the community to strengthen the pathway to help. Visit chipindy.org for more information about them, or to donate. If you or someone you care about is living in their car or is living on the street, call 2-1-1. If you are fleeing domestic violence, call 1-800-332-7385.