Welcome to politically speaking.

I'm Elizabeth Bennion, an chancellor's professor of political science and director of community engagement and the American Democracy Project at Indiana University, South Bend.

In 2023, there were roughly 4400 people experiencing homelessness in the state of Indiana.

That number likely underestimates the extent of the problem.

That same year, South Bend had 552 shelter beds that were completely full with long waiting lists.

Despite an additional 335 units of permanent supportive housing and 119 sober living spots.

In order to address this issue, the city of South Bend named Carl Hetler the full time Coordinator of Homelessness.

Thank you, Carl.

Thanks for being here.

I want to start by asking you, when you were appointed, how did you understand your role?

And have there been any changes about the way you think about your work now that you've been in the job for almost a year?

Thanks, Elizabeth.

It's great to be here.

Coming into this role, after being a pastor in South Bend for 15 years, I knew a lot of the people who are struggling and a lot of the agencies that were involved caring for people.

And so I really focused on from the beginning was helping connect those people who were in need with all the different agencies that we have that are providing meals, providing shelter and providing support services for things that people are struggling with, where they need assistance in their lives.

I think one thing things we've seen over the past year is the need to better understand the data from some of the numbers that you shared.

What's happening locally when it comes to housing, when it comes to services that were being offered to look for the trends.

And so we've tried to do a better job of improving the data that we're gathering.

And sharing with all those agencies so they understand who's in need, what the numbers are and where we can target our resources and efforts.

And you actually started on a short term contract that was recently made permanent.

It sounds like the city has decided that this is an issue they really want to address over the long term, right?

Because we're seeing successes in how we're able to care for people.

We're seeing an impact in people's lives.

We're doing better collaboration with agencies, working together, getting people support services, and we're able to identify what are the gaps that we need to target and make improvements so that everyone gets the support that they need, so that we can live in a community where everyone has the safe, stable and secure housing that we all desire.

So let's talk a little bit about what the city is doing specifically to address the shortage in the sort of long term permanent housing for people who are experiencing homelessness, right.

It's a big issue that we see.

Like you said, there's long waiting lists at our major shelters like Hope Ministries and Center for the homeless.

They do a tremendous job caring for people and getting them stabilized and move them into independence.

But there's a lot of people still waiting to get into those places.

Having motels for now, almost for four years, we've seen the impact of providing a low barrier shelter, and the city was committed to continuing to fund that, to be able to help purchase the land so that we could maintain that and improve that.

And then even this past winter, to expand the weather amnesty offering a center for the homeless that was our main and only site to provide emergency shelter where people could get the care that they needed to be able to get off the streets and be able to have a safe place for them to go.

And so we're providing that low barrier housing that people need find an emergency shelter through the winter.

Then also funding some of the support services that people need when they're struggling with housing, which includes mental health services.

And so we opened recently, earlier this year, just a couple of months ago, the Crisis Support Stabilization Center at Oakland at the Epworth Building on Niles Avenue.

And that's been a tremendous resource and have a place where people can go.

And that was done primarily because of the funding from our city to build open that and get that initially staffed.

So as you talk about a Housing First model, you mentioned the Knights and what is that?

And is there any evidence that it works?

Yeah.

So Housing First says we're not going to make you first get sober or clean before we're going to give you housing, but we're going to provide that housing and provide the wraparound services and give people that trust in a safe environment where they can find a place to get stabilized, where they can then get the support that they need.

And what we find again and again is that makes a huge difference for people.

We had a number of people who are chronically homeless, have been homeless for a year, for ten years in our community who hadn't been able to get involved in some other shelter, but at motels for now, they found stability, they found safety, and we've had been very successful at getting those people, not only the services that they need, whether that is mental health, addictions, medical care, rehab, job training to then move people into independent living.

We've housed over 200 people of our own neighbors.

These are residents, majority of which went to a local high school.

We've housed over 200 of them in different apartments and other living arrangements coming out of motels for now, and over 150 of them are still housed.

And so not only are we seeing success with moving people into housing, but they're staying there also because they have that support.

They have that stability.

It's made a huge impact in our community.

Now, one of the reasons that shelters give for having some criminal background screens, tox screens, etc., is the safety of the other residents who are staying there.

So how are those kinds of issues addressed in a place like the nights and where you're taking that housing First approach?

Right.

And safety is a concern because we're dealing with vulnerable people.

People who are unhoused are not more likely to commit crimes, they're more likely to be victims of crime.

And so we're very concerned for the safety of all of our residents, especially those at motels, for now.

And that's why we've done improvements with having things like 24 hour security on site while we've upgraded the camera and security system through city funds to make sure everyone is safe and secure on the property.

Because for the most part, people want to live in peace.

They want a safe, secure place to be, even if they're still struggling with an addiction or have mental health challenges.

And so making sure people are safe has been a priority of motels for now.

And something we've been successful in in the last six months.

We've had very few calls for police services and those are often always non-emergency.

And so the staff, they're run by, the Catholic Worker and Our Lady of the road, have done a tremendous job of creating a safe environment for people where they can be safe.

They can take those steps towards recovery that they need, and we are able to provide that safe place for people.

And now that's part of a larger continuum because there is still a place for recovery first, as you describe it at Hope or the center for the Homeless or Life Treatment Center, or other partners like the Upper Room.

And so we think that there's importance to have all these varieties of options for people in our community.

Some people are ready for that, and they want that more structure, more supervision, more classes, or provide other sites and that accountability and other people aren't ready for that yet.

And so by providing this whole continuum of care, we're able to meet people where they're at, care for our whole community and help them move forward towards independence and self-sufficiency.

You mentioned that some people are struggling with addictions.

Other may be struggling with mental health challenges.

And you also mentioned there are some police calls.

are the police trained to deal with people?

And how are other city officials who are working on this issue trained to deal with people who may be experiencing trauma or other types of mental health challenges?

There's a concept about trauma informed care that Beacon and Notre Dame have helped to do a lot of training for different agencies, and I appreciate what Chief Chris Koski has done with his police force to do more crisis intervention training, and I've been able to be a part of that to share my experience, what I see on the street, what people are struggling with and how to help de-escalate situations, understand the trauma people have been through, and find ways to peacefully resolve our situations in this role.

Now for the city, I'm able to work with lots of different agencies and departments, so including neighborhood services, that goes out to do code enforcement.

Then you Parks and Arts that maintains all of our parks allows parking that oversees all of our parking garages, and our DSP ambassadors who are going around in their red shirts keeping our communities clean, especially downtown, along Western and in the East Bank.

And so all these different agencies are being trained in de-escalation and how to care for people, how to meet people where they're at.

Understand what are the mental health challenges, how to best interact with someone who's displaying different behaviors, and ways to be able to get people the support they need to help have behaviors that are acceptable for our whole community, and for us all to be able to live in peace.

And so part of my role has been to help encourage that, to help do that training.

And maybe you could even do an example of that even right now, just a breathing technique is a kind of thing that we teach people to do when they're feeling stressed, when they're feeling traumatized.

So when you breathe in your nose and then breathe out your mouth, it's a simple technique that we're teaching city staff on ways when they're starting to feel stressed or anxious, to just breathe in through your nose and breathe out through your mouth.

That helps us calm down.

And when we can teach that to other people who are dealing with a mental health challenge or are stressed about where they're going to be spending the night, or wondering about where they can get food.

A simple breathing technique to breathe in and breathe out.

It's something that we can all do to help deal with the stress that that we're often all facing.

So take a moment.

Take a deep breath before reacting.

Exactly.

Collect your thoughts.

Be in touch with your body in.

You mentioned that many of these people are in fact, all of them are our neighbors.

Some of them may have been classmates, and friends at some point.

our addiction and mental health issues, the number one factor or the top two factors that you're seeing in terms of why people become homeless, or is it also a function of the broader economic changes?

Primarily it's economic, whether that's issues of divorce or rising rent or underemployment or the rising prices for items that that's often the driver for what is causing people to lose their housing, that we see now that motels for now, has really addressed that chronic homeless problem.

What we're seeing are more people falling into episodes of homelessness because of the economics.

And so that's why the city's committed to not only providing those services to help people, but to do what we can to prevent that.

So think about how can we rapidly rehouse people who are in danger of losing their housing?

How can we work with people who are facing eviction to get them the support and services that they need?

And how can we build more housing?

We know that there is an undercount of the housing that we need across our city.

And so the city's committed to doing building not only market rate housing, but to also invest in making sure that we have affordable housing.

We have 100 units.

They'll be coming online in the next year.

They're currently under construction.

We have additional 100 units that are fully funded, and another 100 units that are being planned, so that we are committed to making sure there's more affordable housing, because we're all seeing the increase of rates in housing, whether that's for your rent, for your property taxes.

And so we want to make sure that there is affordable housing for people who are unlimited incomes, who are struggling to make ends meet.

So we have a community that represents the diversity of South Bend that we all celebrate and cherish and benefit from.

Yeah, even people who may be in the same job and they've seen some increase in their wages, are seeing higher property taxes, more expenses related to their transportation, their health care.

So it seems like more and more people are realizing in this housing market that many of us are vulnerable.

Right.

Exactly.

And that's something that we want people to understand is that any one of us could have a financial crisis and not just from our rent, but from a medical condition or an emergency surgery that causes us to have extreme costs and bills that we can no longer pay.

Or we may have some other challenge.

We've all been through this pandemic together, and we realize how isolating and anxiety provoking it can be to experience this uncertainty of a virus, of a pandemic.

And so any one of us could have a mental health crisis and the need to support.

And that's why the city's committed to to funding the crisis stabilization center to get that started, so that we can have a place that people can go and to have mobile crisis teams that the city has also helped fund, so that any time that you are in need, there's a phone number to call at Oakland to get that care and support for someone, but then also have mobile teams that can go out during the day to be able to visit someone, whether they're adults or even have youth teams now that the city has helped fund.

So the reality is having a phone number to call, having people to come out, having a place to go, those are realities.

We face mental health crises for what we need, that support and care.

Now what about people who just can't make rent?

Are there any resources in terms of rent, deposits, rent guarantees and insurance utilities that the city or its partner agencies can help with?

We're looking to launch a new financial empowerment center that'll be shared more information, hopefully by the end of this year about opportunities in our community that the city is going to be funding.

We're working with partners like our Portage trustee.

Jason Critchlow has done a wonderful job to be able to help people in financial need and then also work with a wonderful network of churches and other nonprofits who help people, whether it's Saint James Episcopal or Broadway Christian Parish or Saint Vincent de Paul and Little Flower Catholic Church, there's lots of different agencies that are working to help people, including the United Religious Community, with some of those financial needs that they have to help them keep their housing.

We have the support and resources that they need, but we know that it's very much a patchwork, and that's why we're trying to coordinate those people, help direct them to where they need to go.

One of the things that we've updated on our website at South Bend I engulf homeless is you get a list of all the different resources that are in communities and in maps to be able to see what is available around you, and to get information for how to call or email to get those connections.

And so one of the things that I'm responsible for is to create that, catalog of all the different resources in our community and to keep that updated so people know how to get in contact, when to visit different places, and where they can go.

So South Bend engulfs homeless.

It's a great resource for people who need questions or want to help someone else who's in need.

It sounds like those resources are not just from people who are currently experiencing homelessness, but could also be from people who may need help with food for the month so that they are able to pay their rent and not become homeless.

Is that accurate?

Exactly.

We've got a wonderful network of food pantries across our community that all get, support from the food Bank of Northern Indiana and Cultivate Food Rescue are two major providers, and they're doing tremendous work to help rescue food that would be going to waste, help coordinate all the federal funds that are coming to us and food deliveries, and to really run some great food donation drives also, and then spread that out to our pantries throughout our community so that people know what the pantries are, that they can visit, and to be able to get the support that they need.

And we have a wonderful program with Unity Gardens to help people learn how that they can grow locally.

produce that they need to help cut down on costs also, and be more sustainable and healthy.

Now, I know that the city was interested in additional low barrier housing.

Can you talk a little bit about what is happening with that?

Motels for now was always temporary, as the name implies, and our goal has been to build a new day intake center.

And we're still getting feedback from residents about pros and cons of potential locations.

And so we're hoping in the next couple of months to be able to announce where that's permanent locations are going to be.

We want something that is, is, best for not only the residents who are in need, but for the surrounding communities around us.

And so we're continuing to gather feedback, both pros and cons from neighbors and from businesses as we evaluate where is the best place to build that now, there was an initial site picked out and there was some pushback.

What were the concerns and how are those being addressed moving forward?

Yeah, some of it's misinformation with people, not understanding how well Housing First works.

The numbers I shared, about 75% of the people that we've moved into housing on their own are still there, to see the limited numbers of criminal activity that happens among people who are unhoused that more they're often their victims.

and to also understand all the wraparound services that we're providing with the mental health, with the addictions, with the psychiatric and medical that people need, that people aren't just being left alone, but they're getting all those wraparound services to help not only them keep safe, but help them improve their lives also.

So a lot of it's been helping just people understand what we're doing and sharing that, but then also being part of that public process and wherever we end up, deciding that we want to build, there's going to be a public process of having to go to the zoning commission and get land zoned for a multifamily housing to get approval from the Common Council, and to get whatever piece of land given back through the redevelopment Commission.

Now to the new day intake center that would be running that.

So we know that there's going to be continue to be opportunities for public to, to raise their questions for us, to answer them, to address their concerns and do something that's in the best interests of all people.

Because, again, these are our neighbors.

These are the people that we know who grew up here, who have struggled to maintain housing.

These are our neighbors that we're trying to house.

And so this is a community wide effort that we want to be able to hear from people what their concerns are and be able to address them so that we can make everyone have a safe place to live.

We don't want to push people out of our community who are part of us.

Now.

You mentioned support in the form of psychiatric and psychological services, addiction services.

What about employment?

services, job training, etc.?

are there ways that people can partner with this city to take advantage of some of those types of services?

And goodwill has been a great partner with their Second Chance employment program, has been a great place to get people those opportunities to job, to get jobs, experience in development work.

One and other job placement sites have also been really helpful.

We're continuing to work with the South Bend School Corporation with their adult education to get people more options for that training, because one of the things that we see is the need for more recovery coaches.

When people go through substance use and as they enter in sobriety, they're the best people to help others along that path also.

And so we have a number of recovery coaches who work through Oakland in the upper Room.

We'd love to be able to train more people with their lived experience, to be able to help others experience sobriety and find, safety and growth in their selves.

So there's lots of job opportunities as we continue to see economic development throughout our region.

We know that there's more job opportunities for people as they become stable, as they're able to hold down employment.

And so we're continuing to find more partners of people who want to work with us.

It even comes in small places, like some of the restaurants that employ people, because they want to give them a second chance, because their people have skills and opportunities or some the other seasonal work that happens, especially in the summertime, there's a great opportunities for people to get those opportunities to be able to get some skills, get some trade experience, feel, get some income.

And so there's a wonderful collection that we have on the small scale, on the larger scale, of people getting those job opportunities to develop that self-sufficiency and to give back to the community.

It sounds like many businesses have responded well and are interested in partnering with the city to address this problem.

Perhaps the fact that so many are looking for employees helps, to incentivize that.

Overall, how would you say the community and the business community has responded and how are you reaching out?

So we see the businesses interested in trying to help people out.

And so they want to know what the resources are.

Where can they sense someone who needs shelter, who needs a meal to be able to share some this information that we have on our website so that businesses know where they can direct people with the resources.

that's been often the first step, because our business owners want to be able to provide for all the people in our community and are compassionate and very caring while they seek to to run a business also.

And so we see people sometimes getting small jobs, like there's a guy who likes to sweep a local gas station.

And so that's his job as a sweep.

The gas station and pick up trash.

And the gas owners appreciate that.

And sometimes people who are hanging out late at night, they're tasked to help make sure everyone stays secure and safe.

And they have that responsibility to care for that business and that community.

And so we see these opportunities to be able to help encourage people, to give them opportunities to give back to the community and to be good neighbors.

Because the reality is we know that there's not enough shelter for people, that there are waiting lists.

And so we see people being good neighbors.

They're being respectful of the residents around them, of the of the neighbors and businesses around them.

And they're being good neighbors to them and helping take care of what they can do to help be a good neighbor and not cause problems for the neighbor businesses.

So as we continue to meet with businesses, I'm always available to go out and do some of that de-escalation training, like we practiced for their staff to share about the resources that we have and problem solve for people.

What are the resources that they need?

Do we need to encourage them to visit Oakland?

Do they need to go to the Recovery Cafe at the Upper Room?

Do they need to sign up for motels for now?

Do they need to get a bed at Hope or the center?

There's lots of different options for people and businesses.

Want to help connect people with the resources that they need now?

What can churches, civic organizations, or just individuals who may be watching do if they wanted to be part of this solution?

If you go on the website South Bend, I engulf homeless.

You'll see a large list of places where you can donate if you want to give clothing.

If you want to donate food, there's lots of different agencies that are available there that would love you to have your donations.

And we'll get that.

That is physical items to help out.

And a lot of those agencies would also take volunteers because we've got people serving breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week throughout South Bend.

Depending upon your schedule, there's a different place where you can connect to, volunteer and help out, and agencies are always looking for people who want to to walk alongside and serve people in those place.

And the third stage is really then walking alongside and helping people move into housing as they move into apartments.

People need supports and we have a number of churches that are doing that already in our community that are walking alongside people as they move out of a shelter into a private apartment, helping with the support and resources that they need.

And so there's more opportunities for people to get trained and have those opportunities to welcome people into their community, very much like what the United religious community does with our refugee resettlement program.

We're seeing that citywide that there is not only people are coming from traumatic experiences overseas, but people have had traumatic experiences here in our own community needs that support, that, rebuild that community.

South bend has always been a place that is caring about one another.

It's some of the values of what I think draws people here to the city, and we have opportunities to not shun people, but instead welcome them in to know that there are supports, but that often people just need friendships.

They need to rebuild those connections, those bridges that have been burnt over time for various reasons.

They need a place where they're accepted and loved and not made to feel ashamed or guilted.

That's what it means to be a community and to care for one another.

And because any one of us could experience a trauma at a time, we want to continue to encourage people to develop those relationships and care for one another so it can be a truly a caring community.

It's interesting, as I hear you talk about this in your role as a homelessness coordinator, it sounds very similar to what you may have said as a pastor and people, faith leaders throughout our community of different faiths, maybe trying to say to their, folks attending services, each week, do you see a connection there?

Sure.

In my years at Broadway Christian Parish prepared me to move into this role very well.

And what's been great is to expand beyond that.

So they've been able to go to other community groups, faith groups such as a Unitarian Universalist church and Sinai Synagogue, and to speak at different business groups also.

And different neighborhood associations to cast this vision of of being kind to one another and getting people that support and care that they need.

And what I see again, again is regardless of your belief or practices, that we have a caring community in lots of different groups that are interested in and understanding the problem, understand all the different services that are out there that we've talked about, and then also understand some real components of what people can do to get involved in help, because it feels overwhelming when you think about all the mental health and addictions and housing needs and all the financial challenges, it can feel overwhelming.

But when we realize all the different pieces that the city is investing in, all the community partners that we have, it helps people understand that they can take one little piece and get involved in and really live out their desire to be a part of a caring community.

Any final thoughts or something that you'd like to leave people with as they think about this issue in our community and across the region?

With weather amnesty wrapping up after six months of emergency shelter, it was used by hundreds of people.

over 100 of those people moved into a residential shelter, whether at center or hope or motels for now.

And so we were successful.

Now in keeping people safe through the cold winter, but moving people into residential shelters.

We another hundred people who we only saw for one night and we never saw them again.

And it's a reminder that sometimes we're in a crisis, so we need a place to lay our head to get a shower, get a clean change of clothes, and then we've got enough resources to move on, and we don't need anything else beyond that.

But I think of one person that I met who not only got through weather amnesty, but into a shelter, but now works, around downtown.

And I always see him waving and smiling when he's on the job, walking around downtown doing his work.

And it's that reminder about how sometimes, simply having a warm place to spend the night, having resources to help get you stabilized, then leads people to be able to have a life full of joy and importance and be able to give back to the community.

And it's seen people like that.

That reminds me, this is why we do the work.

It's to be able to provide a structure that people can thrive so they can find joy and give back to others.

All right.

Well, we'll end on that positive note.

A lot to do, but a lot is being done.

That's all the time we have for this week's Politically Speaking.

I want to thank our guest, Carl Hetler homelessness coordinator for the City of South Bend.

I'm Elizabeth Bennion, reminding you that it takes all of us to make democracy work.

We'll see you next time.

This WNIT Local production has been made possible in part by viewers like you.