Newsletter: Homelessness in Muncie Isn’t What You Think

Say the word “homeless,” and a familiar image springs to mind: a stranger on the street with a cardboard sign, or someone slumped on a park bench. But in Muncie, the face of homelessness is more often a single mother with her kids—or a young person trying to survive without family support.

The Delaware County Housing Consortium, a coalition of local agencies including YWCA Central Indiana, Muncie Mission, Christian Ministries, A Better Way, Meridian Health Services, and IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital, has a bold goal: end family and youth homelessness in three years. Not chip away at it. End it.

That’s not a lofty dream. It’s a necessity. Because the data are grim.

Since COVID-19, homelessness has surged. Youth homelessness is at an all-time high. Statistics show that 1 in 4 youth – ages 14-24 – have no place to live.

Black residents – especially single mothers – continue to be overrepresented in shelters. LGBTQ youth are also among the most at risk.

Here’s what’s fueling the crisis: not laziness or moral failure, but a severe lack of safe, affordable housing. Layer on job loss, chronic illness, or domestic violence, and a family can find itself without shelter in a matter of weeks.

In Muncie, that shortage of quality housing is our greatest obstacle. Fixing it will take partnerships across agencies, landlords willing to give second chances, and a community committed to shared accountability.

YWCA Central Indiana has been stepping into that gap since 1911. We are the only emergency shelter in Central Indiana that serves women and children – and the only one that will house women with male children up to age 17.

Our mission is simple: provide safe places for women and girls, build strong leaders, and advocate for women’s rights and civil rights. But none of this can be done in isolation.

The truth is, we can end homelessness for families and youth in Muncie. The path is clear. What’s needed now is community will. Because when women and children have safe homes, our city thrives.

October is HEELS month. It’s the time of year, YWCA has its biggest fundraiser.

None of us can know what it is like for the individual in the next cubicle at work, or the person sitting next to you in church, or the neighbor down the street. None of us can know what they’re lives are like at home – what they face, what their challenges are or how they manage them.

That is, until we get to know them or maybe even walk in their shoes.

And so, we’ve adopted and adapted this phrase at YWCA Central Indiana – Walk in Her HEELS. Help. Empower. Encourage. Lift. Support.

It is our purpose – our mission – to get HER back on her feet and that may mean SHE needs to shift her personal trajectory by a degree or two. Small changes now make big changes later.

Please join us this year at our annual HEELS event – from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Oct. 23 at the Horizon Convention Center, and help us do the work you believe in. Register here.

Be well.

Learn more and get involved at ywcacentralindiana.org. WaTasha Barnes Griffin is CEO of YWCA Central Indiana.