Tippecanoe County leaders are advocating the creation of what they’re calling a “single point of contact” system for preventing and eliminating homelessness. They want to streamline the multiple services used by the homeless to make it easier to get them back on their feet.
City of Lafayette homeless and community outreach director Adam Murphy says there are bottlenecks in the current system which stop those wanting for services from getting all they need.
“When people come into the community or when they find themselves in a situation of being either homeless or in great need, they really don’t know where to go," Murphy says. "And we really aren’t doing a great job of coordinating.”
United Way of Greater Lafayette CEO James Taylor says the single-entry facility would likely need to offer non-traditional hours to serve its clientele. And those who work there would need to be cross-trained to answer many types of questions.
“We would love for it to be a situation that if anybody shows up with this set of issues, there’s a number they can call to the engagement center, no matter what time of day it is, to say ‘here’s the situation’ and then get clear advice from that triage person saying ‘this is the set of steps that we need you to take,’” Taylor says.
There’s no timeline for creating the agency or a plan for housing or funding it.