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Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry has passed away after a brief battle with cancer.

Exploring Homelessness & Services In Northeast Indiana

FILE

According to the 2016 Homeless Assessment Report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development -- or HUD -- the rate of homelessness dropped in Indiana this year. In Northeast Indiana, many are trying to keep that trend going.

John Ramer and Audrey Blouin understand what it means to be homeless very well.

“For about a year straight, we were bouncing between friends and family, and just not able to get back up on our feet,” says Ramer. “The friend we were living with was kicking us out, and we had literally nowhere to go but the streets.”

“I was what, six months pregnant at the time?” Audrey asks.

“Yeah.” he says.

The popular depiction of homelessness is known as chronic homelessness. HUD defines this as, “an unaccompanied homeless individual with a disabling condition who has been continuously homeless for a year or more.”

John and Audrey were situationally homeless, which is more common than you’d think. Fort Wayne Housing and Urban Development director Heather Presley-Cowen says this definition best describes a significant amount of Northeast Indiana’s homeless population.

“A really typical example would probably be more like a family who, one, they have a car; dad had lost a job and picked up another job, but wasn’t enough to make ends meet,” says Presley-Cowen. “Mom had been working, broke her leg and was out of a job.”

There are several resources for families who experience situational homelessness.

One is Vincent Village, whose website notes that all families who stay at the Vincent House have area median incomes under 30 percent. Approximately 82 percent of their residents are single, female-headed families.

Another is Just Neighbors. Executive director Terry Anderson says the organization serves as an emergency shelter for ten families at a time for up to 45 days while they try getting back on their feet. But he says they’re not quick to remove families, either.

“It’s been staff practice that if people get to the end of that 45 days and they’re really working hard on finding a place, finding a job and it hasn’t worked, we extend that time,” Anderson says.

Of course, the services aren’t limited to just families or situationally homeless; chronically homeless individuals have options, as well.

The Rescue Mission is a faith-based organization serving situationally and chronically homeless individuals and families, focusing on self-sufficiency through interdependence -- meaning, residents who live among each other work together towards their goals.

Rescue Mission executive vice president Richard Cummins says his organization strives to go farther than simply providing refuge for those in need.

“We don’t want to be just another soup kitchen, we don’t want to just feed people and clothe people and shelter people to no end,” says Cummins. “What we want to do is help empower them and get their lives back on track so they can find a purpose.”

United Way of Allen County is another major entity in the area that serves individuals and families in need. Then there’s Street Reach for the Homeless, a smaller, local grassroots effort actively providing food, clothing and comfort to the chronically homeless on the streets.

One area that many service providers and city employees would suggest is lacking are shelters for women. Presley-Cowen would be the first to agree with that assessment.

“Our shelter system is designed for certain populations, so there are certain restrictions that will come into play when you enter the system,” she says. “What we find is women without children and without an addiction oftentimes have nowhere to go.”

For John and Audrey -- and their daughter -- they’re back on their feet. John says he’s working 60 hours a week in a factory, while Audrey is a stay-at-home mom. She doesn’t see herself in that role forever.

“I’m currently paying off my student loans to be able to go back to school,” Audrey says. “I’m going to start out as a medical assistant and hopefully move up to being a pediatrician.”

Fort Wayne and Allen County provide many services for the homeless population in Northeast Indiana, with the goal of ensuring individuals and families -- like John and Audrey -- can right their ship towards a path of self-sufficiency. But when discussing homelessness, each agency and city official will likely tell you the same thing: there’s still more work to be done.

This is part one of a five-part series on homelessness in Northeast Indiana. Next week, we’ll look into services that are in place -- and lacking -- for women.

If you have a story you want to share, you can contact Zach Bernard at zbernard@nipr.fm.

Zach joined 89.1 WBOI as a reporter and local host for All Things Considered, and hosted Morning Edition for the past few years. In 2022, he was promoted to Content Director.