‘These are living, breathing human beings:’ South Bend’s homeless population struggles to find shelter

 

SOUTH BEND, IND.-- Driving around downtown South Bend, you may have noticed an increased number of tents, personal belongings, and people on the streets.

Two homeless encampments were disbanded recently, leaving some unhoused folks seeking shelter under bridges and viaducts.

The question they are asking, is if they have to move, where are they supposed to go?

One particular viaduct in South Bend tends to be a popular spot for homeless people to take shelter—much to the city’s dismay.

But that question still remains: if they can’t stay on the streets, under bridges, wherever might be safe for the night, where are they supposed to go?

“Homelessness here in South Bend isn’t as great as other cities, but it’s becoming increasingly more apparent,” Bret Beiler said. “And if we can do something now to help these people, it can be eliminated here in south bend, I think.”

55-year-old Beiler tells ABC57 he has been homeless for about a week.

“Since I just arrived into a homeless state, I really wasn’t aware of what those people were going through, the predicament they were in in life, a lot of those people are really stuck. They’re waiting on credentials they’ve lost.”

He says the people living on the streets are just trying to survive another day.

“Many of them get trapped into homelessness just because they can’t afford to make that hurdle to get past that point of being financially broke,” Beiler said. “They get in the trap of going to the places that feed in the morning and the afternoon, and they ultimately just become stuck in that cycle.”

Right now, Beiler is living under a viaduct along Main Street in downtown South Bend.

“That location of that bridge is actually central to many of these facilities that the homeless use,” Beiler said.

“Viaducts are viewed as shelters, as safe places,” said at-large Common Council Member Lori Hamann. “When we disband other encampments, the homeless tend toward areas that they think are safe.”

Hamann said there have been two homeless encampments disbanded in the last week.

“These are living, breathing human beings,” Hamann said, “and simply the desire to not want them in certain places does not make them just poof and disappear. They need a place to be.”

There is no silver bullet, she says, but there are ways policymakers can chip away at the homelessness issue.

And some advocates said local leaders need to do more.

“There’s plenty of vacant buildings here in south bend, and all they want to do is complain about how the streets look,” said Joe Ard, community advocate and self-called “Community Santa.” “Well, you know what? They don’t like the homeless being out on the streets? Find a place to put them.”

Lori Hamann authored a bill to make homelessness a protected characteristic with the Human Rights Commission.

“They have identified that they’ve been receiving employment calls, people feel that they’re being discriminated against in the employment environment,” she said.

The measure will be voted on in South Bend Common Council Monday.