Family

The 2025 Point in Time Count conducted by the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention (CHIP), found that 25% of the 1,815 individuals counted in that single night snapshot of homelessness in Indianapolis were families. This figure is alarming but provides essential insight into the scale of this issue impacting our Indianapolis neighbors as we work towards solutions.

Brightlane Learning’s recent Sparking Conversations event, sponsored by Katz, Sapper & Miller, placed family homelessness at the forefront as expert panelists discussed systemic barriers and policy failures, misconceptions about homelessness, and community solutions – including those that start in the classroom.

Karen Routt, Brightlane’s Vice President of Program Impact was joined by Allison Segarra-Hansen, Marian University Assistant Professor of Education; Chelsea Haring-Cozzi, the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention (CHIP), and Jessica Preddie, Family Promise of Greater Indianapolis Shelter Program Manager to explore this critical issue and our collective role in addressing it.


Key Takeaways:

Policy Choices are Failing Families

For the past three years, family homelessness in our city has been on the rise. Chelsea Haring Cozzi reminded audience members that “Homelessness is not a result of a bad decision, moral shortcomings, or personal shortcomings. It is a product of policy and structural choices that communities are making.”

Indiana lacks strong tenant rights, and the cost of affordable housing is outpacing wage increases. Over the past five years, average rent for a single-family home has increased more than 40%. According to a July 2025 Prosperity Indiana study cited during the conversation, the average worker must earn $22 per hour to afford a two-bedroom unit.

For many, there is a gap between earnings and housing, which places families on the precipice of homelessness. Jessica Preddie shared that when families seek shelter and support from Family Promise of Greater Indianapolis, the vast majority of them have been evicted due to a reduction in income caused by any number of factors, including reduced hours or lost wages due to having to take unpaid time to care for a sick child.  When families miss paying rent in full for just one month, “even if they meet their rent consistently all the way up to that time,” Jessica reminds us, eviction can be filed and it’s very tough for families to fight

While partners across Indianapolis work to address family homelessness, resources are incredibly limited. CHIP is the coordinated entry lead for Indianapolis’ Continuum of Care, which helps refer unhoused families to various services and interventions. Chelsea shared how challenging it is to lead this process that is tied to the limited housing interventions we have in our communities. There is not enough housing for everyone, which is a tremendous barrier in helping families out of homelessness. “In 2025, our coordinated entry process assessed about 800 families… and we were only able to match about 10 to 12% of those families into those categories (rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing, or housing choice voucher).

Education and Collaboration Create Critical Solutions

Family homelessness requires strategic community collaboration to secure and provide supplies, support services, shelter, and funding that supports families as they navigate homelessness. Yet effective community education and solutions must expand well beyond the organizations providing direct support. It includes building intentional partnerships with landlords and developers and even future educators.

Panelist Allison Segarra Hansen co-created a series of pre-service teacher education courses which directly address the need for teacher education around homelessness and housing insecurity. While all teacher education programs require that students learn what the McKinney-Vento Act is and how it supports unhoused K-12 students, many programs do not provide in-depth training for future educators to work alongside and specifically support students experiencing homelessness and housing instability.

Marian’s three-part series begins Freshman year for education majors with EDU 190 Service Learning – Dignity of the Individual. Allison shared that this class focuses on shifting mindset. “We’re all conditioned to be deficit focused so we look at what’s wrong with a student or family. But we need to shift to look at assets.” As students learn about homelessness in EDU 190, they also serve as tutors in Brightlane’s classrooms in schools and shelters across Indianapolis as part of their field experience.

Later classes in the series focus on what causes poverty, how poverty impacts students and families, and how systems access to healthcare and food intersect with the educational system.

Across Indiana, there are an estimated 19,000 students experiencing homelessness. With limited shelter resources available, many students facing housing insecurity are couch surfing, living doubled up with others, or living in motels or cars. Training teachers to identify and support students experiencing homelessness can provide critical support they may not otherwise access.

Misconceptions and Stigma are Barriers to Overcome

There are many misconceptions about family homelessness that make it difficult to address and prevent policy makers and the community from working together to create better solutions and systems.

Misconceptions around addiction, mental health, and chronic unemployment can block many from seeing the realities of the families impacted by homelessness that we encounter each day in our collective work. We meet working families, many who are working 40 to 60 hours a week, still unable to afford housing. Some have lost wages due to reduced hours or illness and are facing eviction. As they work for stability for their family, access to affordable childcare or transportation can keep them from stable job opportunities.

Together we can build awareness and challenge misconceptions by calling others in and sharing real experiences that children and families facing homelessness navigate. The discussion closed with a challenge to us all, quoting Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative, to get proximate to the issue.

Here are ways to get proximate and support the work of our panelists and partners:

Make plans to learn from community experts at our upcoming Sparking Conversations. RSVP for the following conversation today.

Sustained Student Support – Expanding Pipelines
May 13, 2026 from 9-10:30am at Arsenal Tech High School