Damien Center expansion closes on key piece of funding, construction on track

Work on a new home for the Damien Center is on track. The HIV service provider in Indianapolis recently announced it closed on three agreements with local partners to provide $27.7 million in federal New Market Tax Credits for the building.

The $37 million dollar project broke ground last year. Damien Center President and CEO Alan Witchey said the organization simply outgrew its current space in an old, brick building on the city's east side.

“We couldn’t do the actual work that we needed to do to help people due to lack of space,” Witchey said.

Damien Center’s new three-story, 56,000-square-foot building will help the nonprofit expand services including housing navigation, healthcare, employment and harm reduction programs.
The need has grown since the pandemic for the state’s largest HIV/AIDS service provider. It served more than 10,000 people last year. That’s up from about 6,500 people in 2022.

Damien Center’s new location is on East Washington Street, kitty-corner to its current location.
Witchey said with the tax credits on top of private assistance, a fund drive and grants will enable the organization to finish building.

“It’s very tough for nonprofits to be able to build a new facility in general, because the puzzle of putting together the funding is complicated, time consuming and it takes years to pull it all together,” Witchey said.

The organization, which serves people with HIV/AIDS as well as low income and LGBTQ+ Hoosiers, has grown its one-stop-shop service model in recent years.

Last year it helped house about 1,000 families through its housing services. It also has plans to build 40 new affordable and supportive units adjacent to the new building.

The move comes as Marion County continues to see an increasing number of people diagnosed with HIV.

“I wish I could say we had this HIV epidemic under control, but we don’t,” Wichey said.

More than 5,400 people in Marion County are living with HIV. Marion County was targeted as an HIV hotspot by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2018.

Construction is on track for Damien Center to open its new building in 2025.