INDIANAPOLIS — More people across the nation and right here in Indianapolis are experiencing homelessness — Sanctuary Indy hopes to provide a solution,

Sanctuary Indy has a new concept for permanent supportive housing starting with a five-acre piece of land on the city’s far east side.

Right now, the property sits on a completely wooded area at 10200 E. 38^th street, but by 2025 its goal is to be transformed into a tiny home community for those experiencing homelessness.

“We have permanent supportive options in the city, but number one there’s not enough,” said Sanctuary Indy Founder and President, Michelle Shelburne. “By doing tiny homes that’s being very proactive and purposeful.”

Shelburne has worked closely with those experiencing homelessness.

The project has been years in the making for her organization and comes as chronic homelessness is on the rise in the county.

“My family was evicted and when we were evicted we just couldn’t find a place to stay nowhere,” said veteran Antonio Wilson, whose family was homeless for six months before getting help from HVAF (Helping Veterans and Families). 

According to the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention & Prevention as of January 2024 more than 1,700 individuals in were listed as experiencing homelessness in Marion County including veteran Alan Stewart.

“I’ve been homeless, sleeping outside or at Wheeler Mission,” Stewart said.

He’s been struggling with permanent housing since 2010 and is now living in transitional housing at HVAF.

Stewart is volunteering there while he looks for a full-time job and permanent place to live.

“I can’t afford nothing cause I ain’t got a job yet,” said Stewart. “If I did find anything it wouldn’t even last 90 days.”

Sanctuary Indy hopes to work with other local organizations like HVAF to prioritize veterans like Stewart and those chronically homeless Hoosiers for its new housing community.

The tiny home village will be made up of 27 homes, up to 480 square feet each designed by the minority- owned business Next Great Architects.

Sanctuary Indy

The homes will be split into three-micro communities on the same property prioritizing veterans first.

Shelburne said all residents would come from the city’s coordinated entry system, which connects the most vulnerable people to housing in Indianapolis.

For the residents, the community would be much more than just housing.

WRTV

“We’ll also have a Missional living on the property with them so a missional is what we should say is a mentor,” Shelburne said.

The faith-based organization also plans to provide support services and case managers to tenants of the community.

“With the case management we’ll be going through working on those barriers of mental illness and substance use disorders,” Shelburne told WRTV. “Then we’re definitely working on the next level of getting into job services.”

Shelburne said tenants will be expected to pay 30% of their income toward paying their own rent.

“We believe everybody wants to give independently to their own monthly expenses,” Shelburne said. “The vision for the community is that people will not have just have a house with a roof over their head and a door that locks but they’ll have a home.”

The project is estimated to cost around $3.2 million, which the faith-based organization said they plan to raise through city and state-wide grants along with private funding.

Shelburne told WRTV the permanent supportive tiny home village would be the first of its kind in Indianapolis and across the state.

The community would focus on a nature feeling, with lots of trees, trails, and a pond.

Sanctuary Indy hopes to get the first phase of the project finished by the end of 2025.

They want to eventually have a tiny home community in all four quadrants of the city.