Southern Indiana residents can help those experiencing homelessness
Libby Cunningham News and Tribune
SOUTHERN INDIANA — The cool air inside The Outpost, a New Albany community center, is welcome on a muggy May afternoon.
That’s where Ricky, a Southern Indiana man experiencing homelessness, tells his story.
“You come through the door just as crazy as you are and rundown and ragged and they still treat you the same,” said Ricky, who asked the News and Tribune to only identify him by his first name. “…that’s what I love about these guys.”
Ricky grew up about 20 minutes outside of New Albany and has used drugs. He also has a passion for music and plays guitar when he can while visiting The Outpost.
“Right here, right around this time, there’s different reasons people are homeless,” he said. “Somebody was like ‘Well, you ain’t homeless unless you want to be.’ Well, that’s not true. Circumstances are just different to different people.”
The Outpost is just one spot in the region helping people who are homeless. The Homeless Coalition of Southern Indiana data at its most recent count found 347 unhoused people in the area. Those numbers are from 2020 and likely are higher in 2022.
Multiple outreach groups in the area say the need is on the rise.
Ricky said one way people can help is to donate cleansing wipes and hygiene products for people, especially as summer wears on.
Another thing is to treat people with dignity.
“Treat people as if everyone has a broken heart in them when you first meet them,” he said. “Don’t judge them at first, dig beneath the surface before you make a decision.”
Rev. Jim Moon, Executive Director of Catalyst Rescue Mission, 1727 DL Motley Way, a homeless shelter in Jeffersonville, said the location is now averaging around 80 people per day. On Tuesday night there were 82 people in shelter, including 13 children.
“We are starting to experience the influx of folks from the eviction moratorium,” Moon said. “There’s more people beginning to experience homelessness right now than the last couple of years during COVID.”
The federal eviction moratorium was put into place in the early months of the COVID pandemic to prevent people from losing housing.
Last August the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the order with a decision that said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had exceeded its authority.
Moon said locally the area is at the point where the court system is working through evictions they’ve been holding off on.
“We are seeing a lot of people who are coming in who maybe have had housing for several years because of COVID situations and loss of jobs,” he said.
The shelter is open now with bed space available for people who need it. There are also ways for Clark and Floyd county residents to help.
“If someone who’s local in the community would like to give something, we usually say a snack bag is easier to give,” Moon said. “(Filled with) waters, granola bar, Vienna sausages and a fork.”
Paul Stensrud with the outreach group Jesus Cares at Exit 0, 403 W. Maple Street in Jeffersonville, said he’s noticed more people are on the streets now.
“With warmer temperatures, it does drive more people out of the shelter because of nice weather,” he said. “The suggestion for what we can do as a community is reach out to one of the organizations in our community that are doing outreach.”
The group is now based out of West Maple Baptist Church in downtown Jeffersonville and renovating the entire facility so people can take hot showers on location and have a facility to do laundry. Those facilities are almost ready for use.
“We also recommend carrying snack bags in your car, temperatures are going to be hot,” he said. “A bottle of water and a little bit of protein as well as a couple of snacks.”
Jesus Cares at Exit 0 is preparing for a busy Memorial Day Weekend with Abbey Road on the River. The church will host acts participating in the music festivals and people who use its services will be able to set up, take down and serve meals to the musicians.
Back at The Outpost Nomad Church Collective Pastors Matt Fleenor and Preston Searcy are spending time with people using their facility.
The Outpost, at 1423 East Oak Street, is filled with places for people to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee. People can come take a shower, grab a bite to eat and use the microwave at the facility. There’s also a room where they can keep their belongings, like bicycles, locked up safely so they can relax.
It is open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekdays. The group also does outreach across the area in local encampments.
“We see a big group in this community who have lived here for 30 or 40 years, sometimes it’s generational stuff,” said Fleenor. “Sometimes we see people from Louisville.”
Fleenor said the goal of Nomad Church Collective is to reach people in marginalized community and offer them spiritual resources, along with the skills to build relationships.
Searcy has been living and working in the Midtown neighborhood of New Albany for more than a decade and spent the past six years with Nomad.
“The community does a point-and-time homeless count that populates the amount of homeless people in an eight-county region, in which Floyd and Clark County are included,” he said. “The consensus is it’s never accurate, but anecdotally, I think we’ve seen an increase in the amount of people who are homeless.”
The Outpost also provides hygiene products for people in need. Donations of things like coffee creamer, non-perishable foods and ramen noodles are always welcome.
Searcy also noted the unity between organizations providing outreach in the area, including the Homeless Coalition of Southern Indiana.
Tyson Jones, who does outreach for the Homeless Coalition of Southern Indiana, was at The Outpost along with Fleenor and Searcy. He works on benefits navigation and street outreach and spent Wednesday helping people get cell phones and shoes for work.
“We do anything from seeing somebody on the side of the street and saying ‘Hey, what’s up? How are you doing?’ to getting them shoes, to getting them hooked up with pet care and pet food,” Jones said.
Jones, Searcy and Fleenor said they’ve all noticed an increase in people needing services in the past few days.
There were six new people at The Outpost on Monday, Fleenor said.
“I have seen more faces the past couple of days I haven’t seen before,” Jones said.