2024 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER)

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Addressing the emergency shelter and transitional housing needs of homeless persons The City, as part of the Regional Planning Council, continued to discuss and work on strategies to address the needs of persons who are experiencing homelessness, or are at risk of homelessness.These strategies resulted in the following priorities: • Focusing on rapid re-housing activities with ESG; • Using two distinct approaches, one for circumstantially impoverished homeless and one for chronically impoverished homeless, to re-house them; and • Reducing the unsheltered or precariously housed population. The City oversees the Weather Amnesty program which provides a warm shelter for homeless individuals between the months of November and April. A second round of rehabilitation at the Center increased capacity by an additional 30 beds which allowed the Weather Amnesty program to serve more unsheltered individuals. During the 2023/2024 season, 9,330 bed stays were utilized at the Center for the Homeless, the vast majority of which are adult males.The average length of stay for all guests utilizing the Weather Amnesty program is 15.88 days. The City also provides bus passes for agencies working with the Weather Amnesty program for their clients to utilize for job interviews, doctors' appointments, searching for permanent housing solutions, etc. In 2024,the City of South Bend continued its support of a drive to create a facility to provide additional housing and services for the unsheltered population by working to bring a non-congregate shelter to life in the area, in part by using HOME-ARP funds. It is the goal of this facility to further improve the quality of life for the unsheltered population by providing housing and other needed services to assist in finding a more permanent housing solution. Additionally,the City of South Bend has actively participated in the Indiana Supportive Housing Institute hosted by The Corporation for Supportive Housing(CSH) and Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority(IHCDA) and has worked with developers of Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) in developing PSH communities. Working with CSH gives developers additional insight into planning, best practices and financial assistance in the development and production of PSH units. The Homeless Coordinator also worked with the newly formed Mishawaka Coalition, a group of individuals from St.Joseph Regional Medical Center ER, social workers, and community health workers, to help them organize and work to connect agencies with non-profit organizations to better meet needs and identify areas for improvement. Helping low-income individuals and families avoid becoming homeless, especially extremely low-income individuals and families and those who are: likely to become homeless after being discharged from publicly funded institutions and systems of care (such as health care CAPER 28 OMB Control No:2506-0117(exp.09/30/2021)