Homeless in Allen County

              THE HOMELESS IN ALLEN COUNTY
Perhaps no social service dilemma in recent memory has
evoked as much public outcry and government response as
the plight of the homeless. But the public euphoria over
the need to show compassion for the homeless led to an
unforgivable diversion away from the causes of homeless­ness.
Determining the cause of homelessness is important,
because defining the cause also defines the solution.
Most of the homeless nationwide and in Allen County
are in need of services due to mental illness, substance
abuse or domestic violence.
In the years following World War II, a number of factors
converged to remove the mentally ill from state-supported,
institutional settings. In the 1950s, improvements in drug
treatment made outpatient care more feasible. Beginning
in the early 1960s, a series of federal policy decisions had
Average Daily Population in Mental
Institutions in the State of Indiana
1965
1995 _
15,000
1,500
the effect of reducing the population of the mentally ill in
institutions and promoting community-based care for those
who were seriously mentally ill.
The creation of the Medicaid program in 1965 also
fueled the de institutionalization process. Congress did not
want the federal government paying for patients that were
in state mental institutions, and excluded state hospitals
from Medicaid reimbursement. Short-term care in psychi­atric
wards of general hospitals was reimbursed, however.
As a result, patients that might have been placed in a state
mental hospital were diverted to general hospitals.
Federal government policies further accelerated the
de institutionalization process with the creation of the
Supplemental Security Income (SS!) program in 1972.
SSI increased deinstitutionalization for three reasons.
First, inmates in mental hospitals were ineligible for SSI
until they were released. Second, a cottage industry of
small group hbmes was established across the country to
care for the mentally ill - if they would sign over their
monthly check to the administrator of the home. Finally,
SSI eligibility gave participants an unprecedented degree of
financial independence. Though mentally ill, the no-strings­attached
SSI check meant the patients were free to live and
act as they pleased - even if it meant sleeping in the park,
eating at a soup kitchen, and avoiding regular treatments.
The national trends towards deinstitutionalization have
also occurred in Indiana. In 1965, the average daily popula­tion
in Indiana mental institutions was just over 15,000.
Today, the number is around 1,500 - about one-tenth of the
amount of 30 years ago.
Alcoholism has been the most efficient route to homeless­ness
for several generations. Abusing alcohol results in a
number of factors that break down a person's ability to main­tain
a stable home environment: Impaired decision-making,
loss of job productivity, increased stress on relationships, the
cost of alcohol, and the negative health consequences from
prolonged use.
Alcohol use remains the primary problem for a significant
number of the home less. But the more serious issue from the
perspective of those wishing to treat the homeless is use of
crack cocaine, and the related problem of the "poly-addict­ed"
- those who abuse a variety of legal and illegal drugs.
The explosion of the use of crack cocaine in the 1980s
contributed significantly to homelessness. From virtually no
use in 1980, the number of current cocaine users (at least
once a month) peaked at 5.8 million in 1988. In the next
four years, such occasional use fell dramatically, to just 1.3
million by 1992.
What remained was the small group of hard-core users,
estimated at about 640,000. Use of crack cocaine plunged
some into homeless ness for three reasons: It's cheap, it
provides an immediate effect, and it's highly addictive.
Crack cocaine use soared in Fort Wayne in 1991. In
1990, there were 65 arrests in Fort Wayne for cocaine deal­ing
or possession. In 1991, arrests more than tripled to over
200, and have remained at the high level ever since.
Another important cause of homelessness in Allen
County is domestic violence. In virtually all cases, incidents
of domestic violence lead to homelessness either for a single
woman, or for a woman with children. In most cases, this
cause of homeless ness can occur swiftly and usually without
warning. According to the Victim's Assistance Division of
the Fort Wayne Police Department, there were over 2,000
incidents of domestic violence in Allen County in 1994.
As a result, services to this type of homeless population
must be based on swift treatment.
While victims of domestic violence can be treated in a
number of facilities, the two primary facilities for care are the
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