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Homelessness &

Indiana University

GIVE AWAY YOUR SPARE CHANGEUniversity administrators, public officials and even some nonprofit leaders may try to

convince you that by giving folks on the street your pocket change, you are enabling

their behaviors, and hurting more than helping. By giving spare change to folks in need,

the only thing you are hurting are the attempts of local leaders to gentrify downtown

Bloomington by cleansing it of the poor. If you are a student here, chances are you are

privileged. Your change might help feed an addiction or a hungry stomach. Who knows?

If you are really that concerned with managing the lives of your poor neighbors, then

please, just keep walking. Otherwise, recognize your privilege, and fuck yes- give away

your change.OFFER UP YOUR PRINT QUOTAThe voices of folks who are poor and homeless are invaluable. However, they are seldom

heard due to a lack of resources. We have all kinds of tools at our disposal that allow us

to disseminate ideas and information. Share them with homeless neighbors. Offer up

your print quota. Offer to type or transcribe something for someone who does not know

how to use a computer.

FIGHT YOUR LANDLORDSIf your landlord only approves student tenants, confront them. Do some research. Ask

yourself, if you had a family and were working a minimum wage job, could you afford tolive in your current residence? Has the rent at your residence soared over the years? Did

they once offer affordable, family units? Ask the tough questions and publicly expose

landlords who discriminate.

RESIST GENTRIFICATIONDont let things go unnoticed. Every high-rise hotel, every arm-rest built into the center

of benches, every bulldozed campsite, every new security guard are decisions made to

keep poor people out. If you are a student, this is not YOUR town unless you fight

alongside the people whose blood and sweat drive your campus buses, clean your

campus desks and serve your over-priced food. Fight gentrification.

HOW THE UNIVERSITY CREATESPERPETUATES HOMELESSNESSWHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT

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IN A COLLEGE TOWN, HOW DOES IUCREATE HOMELESSNESS AND POVERTY?NOWHERE TO LIVE The university buys property off-campus andrents it exclusively to staff and students. Landlords take advantage of students who are

willing or capable of paying absurdly high rent, resulting in outrageous rent prices.

High-rise, expensive apartments are built specifically for students. Student housing is

concentrated downtown and low-income housing is pushed farther and farther away

from the city-center.. This requires transportation to and from work, school, and social

spaces. Speaking of transit

NO TRANSPORTATION All IU students pay transportation feesand are provided free public transit. However, most city buses remain at least half

empty, passing neighbors who are poor and homeless walking miles. The city profits off

this built-in fee that is underutilized by students. Community members experiencing

homelessness wait in line for a handful of bus tickets every week or so. These tickets

are not enough to cover the average transportation needs of someone in poverty (i.e.

transit to medical offices, work, shelters, welfare offices, etc.). They dont have money

for bus tickets for many reasons, including

NOT ENOUGH JOBS OR LIVABLE WAGESIU is the number one employer in Bloomington, yet many of its employees are not paid

enough to live in Bloomington or raise a family. IU has recently cut hours and laid off

workers to avoid paying for health care. Many individuals experiencing homelessness in

Bloomington become employed at IU and are still not lifted out of homelessness.

OVER-POLICINGThe IU Police Department (IUPD) and theBloomington Police Department (BPD) work to ensure that community members

experiencing homelessness do not enjoy the same basic accommodations that students

do in our town. Resting heads in public parks, libraries (public and private), and campus

buildings (such as the IMU) are heavily policed in order to keep out our homelessneighbors. Students are discouraged from panhandling or interacting with homeless

neighbors on the street. Student volunteers are instructed by the university to distance

themselves from those they serve in the name of liability.

GENTRIFICATIONIU cannot afford for the poverty it creates to bevisible; specifically to wealthy parents and donors. This means that the campus

coordinates with the city to ensure that downtown serves its heaviest consumers

students. Homeless neighbors are policed randomly in parks and on sidewalks. Hateful

slurs and intimidation towards homeless neighbors by drunk and sober college students

go un-policed. Social service agencies are increasingly pushed away from the city center

so as not to attract homeless and poor neighbors to gentrified, student-oriented areas.Benches are reduced, removed and remodeled to discourage homeless neighbors from

resting or sleeping in public view.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?(BEYOND RESEARCH AND INTERNSHIPS)COP WATCHLook out for homeless neighbors. There is obviously no way to identify if someone is

experiencing homelessness without talking to them, but the next time you see an IUPD

or BPD officer fucking with a person who is sleeping or resting, walk over to them. Record

the interaction. If you suspect they may be experiencing homelessness (i.e. their bag is

filled with clothing and not textbooks), defend their right to public and university space.

Study beside them while they rest so that they cannot be so easily targeted. Police

discrimination based on housing status has not been addressed in this town. Call it out

loudly when you see it.

RECLAIM PUBLIC SPACEEat lunch in Peoples Park. Read a book in Seminary Square. Play your guitar on the lawn

of Soma. Rest your head in the public library. Work to reduce the isolation that our

homeless neighbors are subjected to.

COPY STUDENT IDsStudent IDs give a person unlimited public transit. Rather than getting from Ballantine tothe School of Ed in a pinch, can you imagine needing to go to the west side of town for

medication, the south side of town for financial assistance, the east side of town for

daycare and the north side of town for work in one day? Copy and distribute!

RENT OUT CAMPING GEARMany IU students rent out camping gear to take fun, weekend trips with friends. At the

same time, many of our homeless neighbors do not even have sleeping bags with which

to camp outside when there is a lack of shelter beds.Help a neighbor out!GIVE AWAY MEAL POINTSAt the end of a semester, some

students stock up on food

from C-stores with their

meal points. Others simply

let their meal points expire.

Why not use these spare

points to donate food to folks

on the streets or to local soup

kitchens? You can do this

throughout the year or at the

end of semesters with your

excess points.