Housing Best Practices conference

At a Feb. 10 regional conference in South Bend, Mary Morgan gave an overview of the work that Heading Home of South Central Indiana has done since the initiative began in late 2021.

Mary was invited to speak about how our six-county region in South Central Indiana is implementing a coordinated approach to strengthening housing security, based on a Housing First approach.

The Housing First philosophy stresses the need for an individual to have stable housing before other issues are resolved.

Also speaking on the Housing First approach was Katrina van Valkenburgh, Central Region Managing Director with the Corporation for Supportive Housing. Katrina described the Housing First philosophy in detail and discussed why this approach has proven successful in decreasing homelessness.

The daylong conference, focused on best practices in the housing continuum of care, was attended by about 150 people. Other speakers included South Bend Mayor James Mueller; Jake Sipe, Executive Director for the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA); Mike Perez of the Faith Mission in Elkhart; and Jennifer Layton of LTHC in Lafayette.