An Indianapolis health care provider plans to expand its servi1ces to families experiencing homelessness after receiving a $2.5 million grant from Jeff Bezos’ Day 1 Families Fund.
HealthNet, which runs a network of nine primary care centers in central Indiana for low-income clients, said the organization will use the money from Bezos to implement a “no wrong door” approach to helping families facing homelessness. The grant will pay for an “entry point team” of social workers to guide families along a path to stable housing, no matter where they enter HealthNet’s care system.
Kay Wiles, director of HealthNet’s Homeless Initiative Program, told IndyStar Wednesday that the goal is to give families one place to call at HealthNet to be connected with housing resources.
“The primary goal will be to help families stabilize without hitting literal homelessness, without having to go into (a) shelter,” Wiles said. “If they have to go into (a) shelter, then we want to be at that front door helping them create a plan and pathway to end homelessness as quickly as possible.”
HealthNet says most of the 61,000 patients seen in central Indiana each year live at or below the federal poverty level, $31,200 for a family of four in 2024.
The provider’s Homeless Initiative Program hosts families dealing with homelessness for appointments at its Fountain Square location, 901 Shelby St., and sends medical professionals to homeless shelters around Indianapolis.
“The goal of street outreach is that no one dies on the street,” Wiles said. “They have someone to reach out to when they need someone or are ready to make a change.”
HealthNet also runs clinics in Bloomington and recently rolled out a mobile health clinic to better serve low-income patients in rural Morgan and Monroe counties.
A 2024 January point-in-time count found that at least 1,701 people were experiencing homelessness in Indianapolis. A quarter of that total were adults with children, meaning 419 people were counted in families who are homeless.
In the U.S. at large, families make up more than 28% of the homeless population, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. The number of families experiencing homelessness rose by 15% from 2022 to 2023 after years of steady declines since 2015, the organization reports, likely because of policy shifts like reductions in COVID-era safety net spending and expiring eviction moratoriums.
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Founded in 1968, HealthNet is the third Indianapolis organization to receive money from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund. The Amazon founder committed in 2018 to give $2 billion to nonprofits across the country that serve homeless families and to help form preschools in low-income communities.
The Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention, which leads Indianapolis’ continuum of care for homeless services, received $1.25 million in 2020. The year before, Coburn Place, a shelter for domestic violence survivors and their children at 604 E. 38th St., got $1.25 million.
This year, the Bezos fund awarded $110.5 million to 40 organizations across the U.S.
Email IndyStar Housing, Growth and Development Reporter Jordan Smith at JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @jordantsmith09
