In January, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded $1.2 million in Continuum of Care grants to Coburn Place Safe Haven to help expand Rapid Re-Housing options for domestic violence survivors in Indianapolis. “We help survivors find an apartment of their choice and then use the dollars to assist with rent and eliminate other housing barriers,” said Lauren Laski, Coburn Place’s vice-president of development & mission advancement.
In a statement issued at the time of the announcement, Coburn Place CEO Julia Kathary said, “In the past four years of offering HUD rapid re-housing services, Coburn Place has housed 79 individuals and families in our community. With this increase in our HUD rapid re-housing award, Coburn Place expects to house an additional 71 individuals and families just in the next grant year.”
The need in Indianapolis is substantial given that between 1,500 and 1,800 individuals and families are homeless on any given day, according to the last three annual Point-in-Time Count reports, which tracks the city’s homeless population. Domestic violence was the cause of homelessness for 44% of adult women and for 57% of transgender individuals surveyed for the report.
Kathary said that while Coburn Place’s long-term strategic plan seeks to find ways to expand its portfolio of supportive housing for survivors of interpersonal abuse, there are no plans to leave its Midtown location. “I can say, definitively, that Coburn Place has no intention or plans of moving out of the Midtown area,” she said, adding, “We love operating along the 38th Street corridor for its central-city location, access to public transportation, and the neighborhood which we feel very much a part of.”
