United Way leading charge to reduce homelessness in Bartholomew County
United Way is leading the social services sector by bringing together local government, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and community members to create a coordinated system that helps neighbors move from crisis to stability quickly and effectively.
Because of your support, in 2025 we helped 145 individuals experiencing homelessness move into stable housing and prevented 200 others from losing their homes. Even more encouraging, 96% of those we helped secure housing have remained stably housed, demonstrating the lasting impact of this collaborative approach.
Homelessness should be rare, brief and non-recurring.
United Way is leading the social services sector to partner with local government, social service non-profits, individuals, and businesses to reduce the number of people who are homeless and to ensure that homelessness in our neighbors is rare, brief, and non-recurring.
Reducing homelessness in our community will take everyone working together to ensure our neighbors have what they need to get permanent shelter and find self-sufficiency. We will depend on everyone in Bartholomew County to help us reduce the amount of people in our community who lack permanent housing.
Anyone who needs access to resources at any time, including for basic needs, such as shelter, can go here: www.unitedwehelp.org.
Learn More About Homelessness
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What is homelessness?
Homelessness in our community can be tricky to see and define. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development has defined homelessness using these terms:
Literal Homelessness: A person who has no shelter and who lives in tents or sleeps on the ground, or who utilizes an emergency shelter such as Brighter Days.
Nearly Homeless: People who are expected to lose their permanent shelter within two weeks – such as those facing eviction.
Youth Homeless: Youth who couch surf with friends.
Domestic violence: Families who are homeless after fleeing an unsafe situation at home.
Most people who find themselves homeless do so temporarily and can utilize the social services sector and other resources to quickly get back on their feet by addressing the issue that caused their initial loss of stable housing.
Others find themselves chronically homeless, with barriers such as mental health issues and lack of adequate healthcare and nutrition compounding daily that makes it increasingly difficult to change their situation.
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Causes of Homelessness
The causes of homelessness are complex, especially for individuals who find themselves chronically homeless. The most common causes of homelessness include job loss, divorce, medical crises, mental health issues, and substance abuse disorders.
Many personal and societal factors come into play that lead to a person or family finding themselves in a place where they do not have a permanent address.
Some of the most common causes include:
• Shortage of affordable housing
• Economic challenges such as unemployment and low wages
• Mental health issues
• Substance abuse disorders
• Family breakdowns
• Domestic violence
• Trauma
• Systemic poverty
• Involvement in the criminal justice system
• Eviction
• Lack of personal support networksThe amount of people who are chronically homeless without a factor such as substance abuse disorder or mental health issues is believed to be small.
United Way’s Solution
Holistically removing barriers that have caused homelessness will take the entire community to work together to solve this complex issue.
United Way of Bartholomew County has access to the very best in social services and other resources that help position us to take on this critical community challenge.
Cities all across the country such as Milwaukee, Wisc, Rockford, Ill, and Freemont County, Colo, have effectively ended homelessness in their communities using proven social service strategies and partnerships.
Our proposal takes a complex issue like homelessness and utilizes partnerships with nearly everyone in Bartholomew County to take a holistic approach to breaking down the issues and barriers that have caused homelessness in our community.
