This week, three different initiatives were unveiled to tackle issues with Indy’s safety, housing, and road conditions over the next few months.
Here’s a breakdown of the steps the city is taking and how much it will cost.
🧠 Mental health crisis response
Mayor Hogsett announced that the city is investing $2 million of this year’s city budget to create a clinician-led response team to help with local emergency situations. Its launch was brought about thanks to advocacy from Faith in Indiana last year. Starting in July, the team will be able to respond to nonviolent mental health emergencies to deescalate, address anything urgent, and provide a care plan for Hoosiers in need from 911 calls. About 36 employees are planned for the team and they’ll cover the downtown and east side districts, based out of the City-County Building.
🏠 Homeless outreach
The city has also set aside $686,000 over 18 months to connect unhomed individuals with wraparound services and housing. The “Downtown Collaborative Outreach Initiative” will staff six outreach specialists employed by Horizon House + Adult & Child Health to work every day of the week to improve conditions for neighbors without housing in the Mile Square area with the hope of becoming a model for additional efforts.
🚧 Road improvement
INDOT recently unveiled that it plans to put about $14 million toward improving the detour roads damaged during North Split construction, which we told you fully opened to traffic earlier this month. Streets, light poles, and crosswalks are some of the items that will be repaired during this process, especially on West Street. A concrete wheelchair ramp has already been fixed between Washington + Rural streets.
