Fort Wayne’s Homeless Services Manager provides update to City Council on efforts to address homelessness

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) – Tuesday Evening, Fort Wayne’s Homeless Services Manager, Amanda Fall, addressed City Council with an update after her position was created six months ago.

Fall’s presentation centered around the work she had been doing to quantify how many homeless people there were in Fort Wayne.

The educated estimate she landed on was 2,250 people living either in emergency shelters, vehicles, outside, or hotels. Included in that estimate is the 1,107 households Fort Wayne Community Schools reported in May as not having permanent addresses.

Councilman Russ Jehl, who submitted a letter to the city about homelessness, alongside Councilman Scott Myers.

Councilman Jehl says he was pleased that Fall was able to share an estimation at Tuesday’s meeting.

“The most interesting thing tonight was that the administration has painstakingly tried to quantify the extent of homelessness in our community and it is eye popping,” says Jehl.

Fall says, while they have been working on getting people help, having a number gives them a better sense on how to continue moving forward.

“We need a place where anyone can go and be met wherever they’re at, and then find solutions to help them,” says Fall.

Some of those next steps according to Fall are increasing the number of emergency shelter beds, creating options for low-barrier shelters, and increasing affordable housing options.

“There’s a lot of work to be done, but the wonderful thing about this is our community cares about this. Everyone is coming together to find ways to address homelessness,” said Fall.