Over 100 unhoused residents died in Indy, sparks calls for progress at their memorial

Family members, friends and service providers gathered Saturday to honor people who died living unhoused this year in Indianapolis. They held electronic candles, and as each name was called, they lit candles to honor each life.

The Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention, CHIP, and community partners held the 28th Homeless Persons Memorial Day service at the Roberts Park United Methodist Church downtown. More than 100 people attended. Each year on the Winter Solstice, the national memorial day acknowledges the darkest days of the year – thought to be one of the most difficult days to survive on the streets.

In 2018, the city pledged to end chronic homelessness by the end of last year. This January, CHIP reported the number of homeless people in Indianapolis increased since pre-pandemic years, to a point-in-time count of 1,701.

Resident Imani Sankofa lived in her home for over 10 years. But after losing her job during the COVID-19 pandemic, she wound up living in her car. She was recently placed in transitional housing, but she doesn’t know how long she’ll be there or what will happen to her next.

She attends the service annually and said, as she reads the names, she reflects that hers is not being called. She is grateful and does not take the names lightly.

“Choosing to hold a candle each year, it means so much because that light represents the essence of another human being who was deserving of both housing and their dignity, and that is something that we are robbed of – those who are unhoused or housing insecure,” she said. “We have just as much value as the person that is [sometimes] looking down upon us.”

They read 101 names this year, with the last name also representing people who died but were uncounted. CHIP Executive Director Chelsea Haring-Cozzi said that is half the number read in some previous services. She hopes the memorial helps more people become involved in addressing homelessness.

“There were two young people's names who were memorialized this year,” Haring-Cozzi said. “It's all heartbreaking, but when you're talking about families and young people losing their lives in these kinds of circumstances, that is something I hope wakes people up and really reemphasizes that call to action.”

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett spoke during the service and said the city’s work to help end homelessness is vital.

“We've made significant progress in these efforts. Not enough progress, but significant nonetheless,” Hogsett said.

Indianapolis is one of many cities embracing Housing First – a tactic that permanently places people in low barrier housing with wrap-around services. Some local programs have seen success with that approach, and many point to that progress and call for the city to aggressively make more permanent supportive housing stock.

Recent efforts to decrease homelessness and housing insecurity in Indianapolis include a new Mayor’s Leadership Council on Homelessness to align disjointed efforts across the city, state funding for the city’s first low barrier shelter, and a federal and local takeover of the Indianapolis Housing Agency.

At the memorial, resident Sankofa said the type of housing matters.

“It is not just to say that you put a person in a building and they have some walls and they've got a door and they've got a lock,” she said. “What is the quality of that place where you are housing them? So if you send me somewhere that has mold, that has rats and roaches and crime, that's not home. That's a place that you’ve put me, and it’s sort of like a cage or a prison.”

Indianapolis has a winter contingency plan that outlines shelter overflow options to protect people from the cold. Despite steps taken to make additional provisions for families, many are still in need. If you seek shelter or know someone in need, the Mayor’s Action Center can be reached at 317-327-4622.

Contact WFYI’s health reporter Elizabeth Gabriel at egabriel@wfyi.org

Side Effects Public Media is a health reporting collaboration based at WFYI in Indianapolis. We partner with NPR stations across the Midwest and surrounding areas — including KBIA and KCUR in Missouri, Iowa Public Radio, Ideastream in Ohio and WFPL in Kentucky.