INDIANAPOLIS — A young couple is facing different obstacles than most first-time parents experience when planning for a baby's birth.
“October 16th,” said 19-year-old Shawnda, smiling as she rubs her stomach.
That’s the day she and her boyfriend, Daniel, say they’re set to welcome their first child into the world.
“She’s pregnant and we have a baby girl on the way. Her name’s Arabella,” said Daniel.
And just like any expectant parents, these ones have their share of hopes and fears.
Most of those worries center around one issue right now — Daniel and Shawnda are living in a tent.
“I barely sleep at night because of the ground being so uncomfortable,” Shawnda explains.
Finding a place where they can stay together has been challenging.
The couple isn’t married, both are on disability and Daniel has felonies on his record.
“There’s not a shelter we can stay at together and for us, it’s hard being apart,” he said. “We’re saving every penny we can to get a place and have rent covered for a good while."
The number of people living without shelter in Bloomington and Monroe County is growing. Advocates for the unhoused say in 2020, the number of unhoused in the area was 400. Today that number is 540, with a significant number of those who are unhoused also living without shelter.
Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson, who just took office in January, is concerned what the recent ruling by the United States Supreme Court to allow cities to go into homeless encampments and clear people out could mean for places like Bloomington.
“We know some municipalities will crack down without a plan to house people,” said Thomson. “That’s going to put additional pressure on places like Bloomington."
“No one community can take the brunt of this and we’re really focused to getting to a place where people can be housed,” Thomson explained, saying Bloomington has no plans to clear out encampments of unhoused people, unless the encampment poses a public health or safety risk.
Instead, the city is working with advocates for the unhoused to come up with a plan for long-term affordable housing.
“There are not enough beds in Bloomington to house everyone that we have unsheltered at this point,” said Thomson.
“My plan is to get a full housing plan together so that everybody who is in Bloomington we can say to them, ‘There is a place for you to go with a roof over your head,’” Thomson explained.
“I think that the fundamental issue is that we just do not have enough housing that’s affordable for people to live,” said Mary Morgan with Heading Home of South-Central Indiana, an initiative that’s tasked with changing the system long term to keep people housed and if they’re not, find them a place to stay.
Morgan said when talking about the issue of homelessness, people need to consider some of the barriers that keep people from having homes. She said those barriers include poverty, criminal records and stigmas landlords may hold about people who use housing vouchers to help pay their rent.
“We need to talk about those issues more,” said Morgan.
Morgan and other advocates for the unhoused are working with the city on its long-term housing plan.
“We all need to be part of the solution,” said Thomson. “This is everybody’s crisis. We can’t go home and say because I have a warm place to tuck my kids in at night, I’m OK."
For Daniel and Shawnda, that’s a place they still don’t have.
“They definitely need more affordable housing,” said Daniel.
Even with the city working on an affordable housing plan, Daniel and Shawnda don’t have time to wait.
Their baby will be here in just a few months.
“I worry about how we’re going to be able to have a baby and still live in a tent, ‘cause you really can’t,” said Shawnda.