INDIANAPOLIS — A large homeless encampment behind the Walmart on East Washington Street is raising concerns among residents, business owners and local leaders.
From the air, the size of the encampment is striking, stretching behind the store and near the Pennsy Trail. Brenda, a neighbor who lives in the area, said she was surprised by its scale.
“I didn’t realize that it was going to be at the volume and magnitude that it was going to be when I saw it last night,” she told WRTV.
City-County Councilor Michael-Paul Hart visited the site this week, saying the issue has been a challenge for years. It will require significant coordination between the city, the Department of Public Works, the state and other agencies. Hart represents District 20.
Walmart representatives told WRTV the issue has posed significant challenges for East Indianapolis, impacting numerous local businesses over the years.
Andrew Merkley, director of the city’s Office of Public Health and Safety, said the city is pursuing both immediate cleanup efforts and long-term solutions.
“This area of the city has had a long history of encampments coming and going,” Merkley said. “We are actively working on getting another cleaning in that area.”
Merkley pointed to projects such as the Tenant Advocacy Project, which offers legal aid to residents facing eviction, and the Aspire Mobile Clinic, which brings healthcare to unhoused residents. The city is also building a low-barrier “housing hub” shelter that will operate year-round.
These efforts fall under Indianapolis’ Streets to Home initiative, which aims to end homelessness by 2028. The program closes encampments only after offering housing to all residents who want it. Merkley said the city’s partner, the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention (CHIP), has housed 29 people from the program’s first two sites.
Still, residents question whether removing one camp simply displaces the problem.
“You know, what do you do? They just move from one place to another,” Brenda said. “You’re not completing the project. You’re just moving it somewhere else.”
Merkley acknowledged the challenge but said Indianapolis is following models from other U.S. cities that have reduced chronic homelessness.
“No one should have to sleep outside,” he said. “We’re really trying to address this concern from multiple angles — from creating affordable housing to providing shelter options."
