A regional Strategy to reduce Unsheltered Homelessness

Streets to Stability is a multi-year regional initiative designed to reduce unsheltered homelessness across South Central Indiana. The initiative builds on existing efforts, uniting partners across the homeless response system, government, business, philanthropy, healthcare and faith communities around a shared approach: connecting people living outdoors to permanent housing and supportive services while addressing outside sleeping in a coordinated and humane way.

The methodology is based on a nationally tested Direct-to-Housing Encampment Response model that enables communities to resolve unsheltered homelessness using an intensely collaborative approach.

The model focuses resources on one encampment or zone at a time through a coordinated four- to six-week process. Participants are connected to long-term housing, a year-long rental subsidy, and individualized support services designed to help them achieve stability and maintain housing. After all residents have been offered pathways to housing and services, encampments or zones are closed and restored to prevent re-encampment and to return public spaces to broader community use.

Read the most recent Streets to Stability press release about our progress so far here.

The Strategies

Streets to Stability combines direct housing, prevention, and coordinated support so the response can meet people where they are.

Strategy #1

Move people living outside directly into housing.

People living in encampments and other areas of concentrated street homelessness will be connected to housing with a year-long rental subsidy and intensive case management. Once everyone in a targeted encampment or zone has been housed, the area will be closed to camping, cleaned, and maintained.

Strategy #2

Help people new to homelessness return to housing quickly.

Flexible, targeted assistance can resolve a housing crisis before it becomes chronic, whether through a security deposit, a few months of rental assistance, or reconnection with family or another support system.

Strategy #3

Create a coordinated response for people with complex needs.

A dedicated Complex Case Team brings behavioral health, healthcare, homelessness services, justice system, and other partners together to coordinate care, remove barriers, and develop individualized solutions.

From the Street to a stable home

The Streets to Stability model connects persistent street outreach, housing placement, financial support, and intensive case management into one coordinated pathway.

01 | Assessment & Engagement
Street outreach workers build relationships with people experiencing unsheltered homelessness and complete an individualized assessment of their housing needs, barriers, strengths, and goals. Outreach begins where people are, building trust and creating a pathway toward housing.

02 | Housing Plan & Placement
Once engaged, each client works alongside a case manager to develop a personalized housing and stability plan. The team identifies appropriate housing, addresses documentation and application barriers, connects clients to benefits and community resources, and works with landlords to secure a unit.

03 | Move-In & Stability Support
Clients receive the practical and financial support needed to successfully transition into housing, including move-in assistance, a 12-month rental subsidy, and intensive ongoing case management. Support continues after move-in to help clients maintain housing, strengthen income and community connections, address emerging challenges, and build toward long-term stability.

Growing the model, Expanding the Impact

Streets to Stability will begin in Bloomington by connecting more than 50 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness directly from the streets to permanent housing by the end of 2026. This effort will reduce street homelessness and strengthen partnerships around public spaces. From there, the model will expand across Monroe County, pairing targeted outreach and housing strategies with prevention, diversion, and rapid resolution for people newly experiencing homelessness. Over time, the approach will scale across South Central Indiana, creating stronger regional coordination among housing, healthcare, behavioral health, and other systems to support people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, including those with complex and ongoing needs.

A Strategy rooted in Collaboration

Heading Home is leading the Streets to Stability effort while working alongside local partners to build a more coordinated community response to unsheltered homelessness. Our outreach team engages people directly on the streets and connects them to housing and support, while partnerships with behavioral health providers, shelters, housing organizations, healthcare systems, local government, and community stakeholders help address the complex barriers that can stand between someone and a stable home. As the initiative grows, we are strengthening these partnerships and creating shared ownership of the work so that our community is better equipped to respond together.

Streets to Stability Leadership Team

A cross-sector leadership team that guides the initiative includes:
Mary Morgan, Heading Home Executive Director
Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson
Monroe County Commissioner Jody Madeira
Monroe County Councilor Trent Deckard
Bloomington Township Trustee Efrat Rosser
Emily Pike, South Central Housing Network chair and Executive Director of New Hope for Families
Tina Peterson, Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County President and CEO
Brianna Solola, IU Health South Region Chief of Staff
Melissa Burgess, HealthNet Homeless Initiative Program

Streets to Stability