Indianapolis Homelessness Climbs Again
- Homelessness in Indianapolis increased for 3 consecutive years, despite intervention programs.
- Tony argues city has grown comfortable with visible homelessness rather than addressing its root causes.
- Different approaches needed for those temporarily down on luck, struggling with addiction, or severe mental illness.
Indianapolis Homelessness Climbs Again
Tony Katz says Indianapolis doesn’t have a homelessness problem because it’s out of solutions. He says it has one because city leaders have decided to tolerate it. Reacting to the latest annual homeless count, Tony argued the steady increase in people living on city streets and in shelters is evidence that current policies aren’t working — no matter how many officials insist conditions would be even worse without existing programs
Indianapolis’ homeless population increased for the third consecutive year, according to the 2026 annual count reported by the Indianapolis Business Journal. The survey found 1,821 people living in shelters or on city streets, up six from 2025. Local leaders pointed to intervention programs as helping prevent an even larger increase.
Tony wasn’t buying the argument. “Our issue remains how we deal with these things,” Tony said. “What are we doing to actually fight these things? What policies are in place to say we don’t do this here? And what willingness do we have to put an end to it?”
For Tony, the raw number isn’t the only story. The bigger issue, he argued, is a city culture that has grown comfortable accepting visible homelessness rather than aggressively confronting its causes. Translation: if the numbers keep climbing year after year, claiming success because they didn’t climb even faster isn’t much of a victory.
“It is tolerated in Indianapolis,” Tony said. “I know this because look at the numbers. They aren’t changing. Don’t tell me about this policy. Don’t tell me it would have been worse if we didn’t have this program.”
Tony also drew distinctions between people who are temporarily down on their luck, those struggling with addiction, and those dealing with severe mental illness, arguing that each requires a different response instead of a one-size-fits-all approach.
He went further, reviving a long-running debate over institutional mental health care. “We do have to accept as a society that we have people who simply can’t be a part of society,” Tony said. “We opened up the asylums. We were wrong.” The comments come as cities across the country continue wrestling with rising homelessness, public safety concerns, addiction and mental health treatment, while local governments face growing pressure to show measurable results from billions of dollars spent on housing and outreach initiatives.
Tony placed responsibility squarely on City Hall. “This is about bad leadership in Indianapolis,” he said. “They can try and say no all they want, but what does that matter?”
Listen to the “Indianapolis Homelessness Climbs Again” discussion in full and hear Tony Katz break it down live weekdays on WIBC 93.1 FM, or catch the full segment on-demand.
