Members of St. Mary of the Knobs Catholic Church recently served a hot, hearty meal to those in need at the Jeffersonville Community Kitchen. (Photo/Marilyn Odendahl)
By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
April 11, 2024
Under the frequently asked questions section on the St. Joseph County Clerk’s election webpage, the list of inquiries includes, “I am homeless, can I still register to vote?”
The answer in Indiana, and all other states, is yes. According to the 2024 Election Administrator’s Manual from the Indiana Secretary of State, homeless individuals must designate a location, either by adding a street address or by drawing a map, that shows where they usually sleep, so they can be placed in a voting precinct. Also, homeless persons are required to provide a mailing address within the county where they live, so can receive notification about their registration.
How many homeless individuals are registered and do vote in Indiana is not known. The Secretary of
State said voter registration forms and databases as prescribed by state and federal law do not identify voters who have a non-traditional residence.
In contrast, statistics show the homeless population, in general, to be increasing across the United States. The 2023 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress, compiled by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, found the number of people experiencing homelessness rose 12% from 2022 to 2023. Roughly 653,100 people – or about 20 of every 10,000 – were experiencing homelessness nationwide, based on the 2023 Point-in-Time count which was compiled in January.
Estimates of people experiencing homelessness in Indiana reached 6,017 in 2023, a 10% increase from 2022, according to the respective AHAR.
Leslea Townsend Cronin, executive director of the Homeless Coalition of Southern Indiana, based in Jeffersonville, is skeptical of the Point-in-Time numbers because, she said, of the ambiguity in how the data is collected. However, she and her team have seen a “dramatic increase” in homeless individuals.
Looking ahead, Cronin only sees the situation getting worse. Affordable housing is in short supply, she said, as rents have skyrocketed and starter homes are out of reach even for the middle class. The Homeless Coalition has a little money left over from the federal COVID relief aid to help stave off evictions but with 300 calls per week from people needing rental assistance, Cronin expects those dollars to soon be gone.
The financial crunch is coming at a time when the patience for homelessness is wearing thin, Cronin said. Across the country, legislators and activists are pushing to stop Housing First programs meant to connect homeless persons with permanent housing and even trying to criminalize homelessness.
Conservative groups, Cronin said, are talking about defunding programs and forcing people into services in order to get a place to live.
“First of all, I feel like that’s not ethical, that’s not humane,” Cronin said. “It’s a human right to be housed, it’s a human right to feel safe, so why are we going to make you work towards that when it should just be a human right?”
Frustrations with housing costs and support programs would seem to be the fuel to drive many homeless voters to the ballot box. Although some of the Homeless Coalition’s clients are “very civically engaged” and knowledgeable about the issues, Cronin said, others are just focused on the struggle to meet their daily needs.
“When you think about it from a kind of 10,000-foot view and you’re looking at somebody who’s in constant crisis, it’s really difficult for you to be engaged,” Cronin said. “You’re just wondering where your next meal is going to come from, where you’re going to sleep tonight. Thinking about those higher-level functions of government isn’t always a priority.”
The National Coalition for the Homeless advocates for homeless people to register and vote. Citing a study that shows homeless and low-income individuals are less likely to vote, the organization attributed their low participation rate to barriers they face in casting a ballot. That includes not having the necessary identification, not being able to get information about the candidates, and not having a ride to the polling place on Election Day.
A few months ago, a local group visited the Jeffersonville Community Kitchen and offered assistance in registering to vote to those who stopped by for a hot meal, according to Richard Alexander, a staff member at the kitchen. Many registered, he said, but he is not sure how many will actually vote.
The kitchen, run largely by volunteers, serves about 150 individuals daily, Sunday through Friday. Although everyone is welcome, Alexander estimated half of those coming to eat are homeless. And of those individuals, he said, many are struggling with mental health issues or an addiction to drugs.
Alexander agreed with Cronin that most homeless persons are too worried about finding food and a safe place to sleep to think about elections and candidates.
Noting the personal obstacles homeless people face, Alexander said he “didn’t think it was worth the time and effort to register them to vote.” The resources, he said, would be better spent on helping the homeless with their mental health issues and treating their drug addictions.
On a recent weekday, Alexander stood at the back of the spacious dining hall, greeting people who came in and keeping everyone calm. One of the diners thanked Alexander for the meal, saying he appreciated the good food and hospitality, and another gave Alexander a quick hug.
The diners filed through the line while volunteers from St. Mary of the Knobs Catholic Church in Floyd Knobs loaded each blue plastic dining tray with spaghetti, chicken fettuccine alfredo, mixed vegetables, a slice of garlic bread, salad, fruit cocktail, and a doughnut for dessert. The volunteers also offered a smile and kind word.
Being able to serve a hot, hearty meal, instead of a cold sandwich, to those in need is why several volunteers said they like to spend a little bit of their time each month at the Community Kitchen. They feel called to help others with one volunteer explaining, “God just said, ‘You need to do something, get off your butt.’”
John Loesch, who cooked that day’s meal with help from Joyce Banet, said he typically looks to see what is available on the shelves and in the freezers of the kitchen’s pantry. Showing the boxes and packages of donated food stored in the pantry, Loesch said he plans the meals by relying on the recipes his mother and mother-in-law used and including at least one meat, a starch like rice or potatoes, a vegetable, and always a salad.
As the diners finished eating, Kerri Cline took their trays and rinsed and stacked them in the dishwasher. She called out to a straggler she knew by name, telling him it was time to leave and reminding him to take his bottle of water.
Alexander recently marked his sixth anniversary working at the Community Kitchen. Observing the people he helped to serve during that time, he wonders where many of them would eat if the volunteers were not there to provide a meal.
“I’ve tried not to judge,” Alexander said. “I don’t appreciate where most of them are coming from, but I know enough not to say, ‘They are wrong and I’m right.’”
During the March press conference where Indianapolis housing advocates unveiled the 2024 Gap report, spotlighting the state’s housing crisis, Chelsea Haring-Cozzi, executive director of the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention, attributed homelessness to policy decisions that are driven by the housing market. She said the most vulnerable do not have access to affordable housing as vacancy rates in Indianapolis have dropped below 5% and rents have risen 30% from 2021 to 2022.
Safe housing provides the foundation, Haring-Cozzi said, from which many individuals can address other factors that may have led to homelessness by securing a job, getting more education, and improving their physical and mental health. However, she said, the home or apartment must be clean, in good repair, have working utilities, and be clear of mold or any kind of infestation.
Speaking out at the ballot box would be a way for the homeless to raise awareness of their plight and, possibly, lead to policies that would better their situation, Haring-Cozzi said. However, she agreed with Cronin that those living on the street are more focused on where to eat and sleep, than they are on civic engagement and voting.
“I’m sure that impacts people’s ability or willingness to vote when you’re in that kind of survival mode,” Haring-Cozzi said, “but the goal is to do as much education and voter registration drives with shelter partners and street outreach teams (as possible) so that people can make their voices heard.”
Cronin said the public officials and policy makers should seek out and listen to what homeless people have to say. Creating a new program or launching an initiative without listening to what the most vulnerable individuals think, she said, is terrible and not helpful. Also, officials should talk to multiple homeless people before crafting a plan to offer assistance, because “everybody’s situation, everybody’s story is different.”
Although she is not sure how many people her agency serves are registered to vote and how many do vote, Cronin believes if they had the opportunity and were educated about their voting rights, they would participate in elections.
“I think that people would exercise their rights,” Cronin said. “Probably not everybody, but I do think there are people that would exercise that right if they just had that education piece or even (if they were) just talked to about it.”
Dwight Adams, a freelance editor and writer based in Indianapolis, edited this article. He is a former content editor, copy editor and digital producer at The Indianapolis Star and IndyStar.com, and worked as a planner for other newspapers, including the Louisville Courier Journal.
The Indiana Citizen is a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. For questions about the story, contact Marilyn Odendahl at marilyn.odendahl@indianacitizen.org
