Louisville, where we introduce you to the people, places and things that make up Kentucky's largest city.

This week, we take a closer look inside Louisville's homeless community.

Like many cities around the country, the number of people without a place to live has risen drastically in Louisville since 2020.

The most recent survey of Louisville's homeless population counted 1831 people without a place to live, with more than 600 of those living unsheltered.

Last year, a state law called the Safer Kentucky Act required stricter street camping enforcement, and the city cleared most large camps.

But the city's homeless population continues to grow.

The city's homeless services division is now called heart, which stands for Homeless Engagement and Assessment Response Teams.

We tagged along with those teams to see just how they're responding to the homeless community here.

Every day.

>> How are you doing today?

I'm with Louisville Metro.

I'm homeless.

>> Outreach Miranda Kallage hits the streets every day working to get Louisville's homeless population off the streets.

>> And have them reach out to me.

Okay, because I can help.

>> She's part of Metro Louisville's homeless engagement team.

They are charged with responding to reports of homeless people or camps in the city.

>> There can be any number of calls that we get from the assessment team that lets us know that there's an encampment that needs outreach, and we pop on down to one of those, or we work with a lot of the nonprofits in the community also.

So we may be responding to certain people that they have encountered that may need documentation or maybe need to get to services, or they need transportation to mental health picked up and go to addiction recovery.

>> When we catch up with her on a Friday morning, Miranda has already accompanied one woman to an intake appointment at a local shelter.

From there, she heads to Shelby Park.

>> If you talk to them, talk to them.

They don't.

They want to change things, but it takes a while to make that happen.

As long as people are supporting them, they will stay there.

And if we could, I would really love to be able to change some of the community so that we could, instead of people giving them money right there, that we could donate to, you know, Saint John's or Wellspring or.

The recenter or UPS for women, other places that they could receive services because those places have access to housing and shelter and all sorts of other care.

>> At the heart of the Homeless Engagement and Assessment Response teams is making those connections.

>> I just come to you wherever you are.

I'm going to give you my information, okay?

But I'm going to have one of my outreach team come down here and take you down to the Nia center.

A lot of the time, people do want to take steps.

They do want to help do that.

But just like he was saying, you know, he's sleeping out here on the street.

He needs a place to shower.

He's a place to have clean clothes and and clean up so that he can be presentable to show up to a job.

So if we can help provide easy access and advocate for individuals that we're coming across, we can start to make things move on their behalf.

You lose your ID, you lose your your job.

You you don't have a place to shower.

You can't get a job if you don't have your identification, your Social Security card.

You gentlemen, I need to take down to the Nia center to get their ID.

A lot of people say just, you know, go get a job, go work, do this.

There's so many barriers that come in between that.

What's your name?

But if you don't have a way to shower and you don't have a place to keep your clothes you're not worried about, like trying to find a job.

You're trying to figure out where you're going to eat next.

We just walk right in, we get your ID, we'll be done in, like, seven minutes.

>> Okay?

Thank the Lord for that.

Yeah.

>> Within minutes, a ride is there to take these men to get an ID.

The first step to getting housing or a job.

>> You know, when we've got somebody for an ID, just something basic.

Seems like, to all of us, for the first time, we've had people be real emotional about that and see that somebody is willing to help take them and make and follow through on that.

But then not just that, they'll they'll follow them all the way through to getting into housing.

It sounds like we might be able to get you into some space.

Okay.

We're problem solvers and we like to we like the challenge.

So.

But also just helping people see them change.

>> When it comes to clearing encampments.

They begin engagement far before the camp is cleared.

The engagement team has to visit at least three times to connect people to services before they can move anyone out.

>> I'm going to reach out to the Coalition and Saint John's and find out what's going on.

Your case manager, any kind of housing options?

We call it Kick the Can, where one mental health provider lets it go, lets it go, kicks it to another one, kicks it to another one.

And so our a lot of my position is to be an advocate for those individuals who are slipping through the cracks and we speak up and we keep and we're consistent, showing up for those individuals and saying to who do we need to talk to?

We'll go to whatever that extreme is to get the services that need to happen.

If you want some help, there's the Goodwill Opportunity Center that's down Broadway, and we can help get you rides down there.

You can do applications.

They'll help you build a resume.

So we just let them know that we're here for them and that they can they can reach out to us.

We work with a lot of different providers and a lot of different areas of the city.

Those individuals know that we can we can respond to anything if they need to get to doctor's appointments, if they need help with clothing, if, you know, eventually they're gonna, you know, people will come around.

It just takes time building that rapport with them.

>> Make sure you didn't go to the last time visit.

>> Where the first responders were, were a lot of times before EMS or LMPD or fire or anything else shows up.

We're we're out here sitting with people in these situations and just listening to their stories.

It's not about me or anything that I have going on.

It's his experience.

How can we help change that for you?

Because if we can change him, he affects multiple other people around him.

I mean, he's got children and he's got grandchildren.

So imagine how much that changes all of their stories.

If we can help make his life a little bit better.

>> Where are you staying?

>> Well, welcome to John Pilbean, the director of the Metro Homeless Engagement and Assessment Response Team, the agency that is now known as Hart.

Explain what that is and why this rebranding.

>> Sure.

Thanks for having me.

So we were the homeless services division, and it felt like that really didn't tell us, tell you everything that our team did.

So we wanted to transition to Hart, which is our Homeless Engagement and Assessment response team.

We engage folks every day.

Our outreach team are out there Monday through Friday, 830 to 530 and half days on Saturday.

Really trying to connect folks to services.

The assessment team is out there.

They get the 311 reports.

They go out and try to assess the camps and then transfer those folks over to our outreach team to try to connect them to services.

>> It's a big job.

>> It is a big job, but we've got a great team and a caring team that really want to get folks off the streets and move them into secure housing.

>> Yeah, as we saw there with some of your teams that are doing that outreach work, what kind of what kind of challenges do you run into and what are what's what are the biggest need for these people?

>> So I think trust comes into play.

I mean, I think these folks have been let down by the system for so long that they need our connection and our help.

They're overwhelmed even just getting an ID, which our team can help you do.

We have front of line access to go get you an ID so we can get you off the street, take you to get an ID within an hour.

So I think it's the little steps that we have to make sure that someone understands that we can help you at each step of the level to move.

So we help you get an ID, help you get, you know, the Social Security card, the birth certificate, and then move you into the housing list and get you connected with those folks to to go through all those forms.

>> Right.

And last year, the Safer Kentucky Act required the relocation, clearing out of some of these camps.

And so that was that's already being done.

Now, how has that progressed or how has your job changed since that went into effect?

>> It didn't change a whole lot.

Louisville was already kind of ahead of the game, I think since Mayor Greenberg came into office.

He kind of prompted us to go ahead and move forward with some relocation of encampments.

So that's what we've done.

We have a risk assessment tool that has 89 questions.

So each time that our encampment response team goes out, they'll go through that risk assessment, follow those through, whether it's looking at number of people in the camp, the debris, other things associated with the camp.

We just go through those, check those.

Most of them have a 1 to 3 point system.

So it'll give us a points.

And that's where we look at.

That's what we use to relocate our encampments.

Once it's once we have those scores, we work with the mayor's office and public works to relocate those camps.

>> And when you say relocate, where where do they go?

>> Sure.

A great common question, right?

Somewhere with less risk.

And what we're hoping, though, is that we can get those folks moving towards our shelters.

We know we need more 24 hour shelters, and we're working on that, but we can also get you to wayside.

Our team transports to wayside every day, like you may have seen earlier.

They're you know, we're trying to get folks in the car, get them there as quickly as we can, or get them to other respite care.

>> On a federal level, too.

There is now a push for more of of this and a steering funds away from this Housing First model, as many communities did.

So does that mean Louisville is already sort of ahead of the curve when it comes to that, because of the Safer Kentucky Act?

>> I hope so, right?

I mean, we're already trying to move folks into housing already.

I mean, the mayor is wanting 15,000 new housing units, you know, in his first term.

We're going to get close to that.

I hope that's what we need.

So I think our team is working towards that, that goal.

>> Another thing in the works is the Community Care Campus, which is slated to open.

Is it next year?

>> Next year?

I think completed fully completed in 2027, but we'll have partial openings in 2020.

>> Okay.

So explain what that is.

>> Sure.

So right now it's got we have temporary housing units for families.

I think we have 13 families in there.

That'll be in early 2026.

We will move those families to the new units that are in there.

And then we have the chancery that's opened within this year, 2025, that we can fit 36 individuals into supportive housing.

There'll be respite care in there for folks that need more medical care, that maybe are too well for the hospital, but not ready, you know, to really kind of be out on the streets or out on their own, that we can try to help them.

And then also looking for our young adults, 18 to 25 year olds, trying to get those folks really trying to focus in on that group.

>> That's that's going to fill a big hole.

>> It will.

It's something Louisville really needs.

>> Yeah.

And then you also mentioned how, you know, there are these treatment programs.

And are there instances where sometimes there are involuntary treatment programs that these people are sent to?

>> Occasionally we do have to do an enemy was formerly known as kind of the M.I.A.

That it's not something we really want to do.

We'd rather try to focus on helping the individual get to a shelter, get to, you know, Saint John's up for women and families or even, you know, some of our, our drug treatments, rather get them there than to try to do you know, the old M.I.A.

Route.

>> So there are there are a lot of resources here.

What what do we still need though?

What's lacking here that that could help your team?

>> Louisville is a very compassionate city, right?

I mean, we are, but we do need 24 hour shelter.

We need additional 24 hour shelter.

And Mayor Greenberg and the administration are working on that.

And that's part of our Hiff funding, the Homeless Initiative funding that we have for this year, that that's one of our focuses, 24 hour shelter.

>> Are you worried about some of that funding going away?

>> This is City of Louisville funding through Hiff funding.

So I'm not worried about that at all.

The you know, we have 1.2 million that we that we put out for homeless initiative funding.

So that won't go away a little nervous on the federal level, but I think, you know, we've adapted before Louisville will adapt again.

>> Yeah.

So I think what a lot of people don't understand is all of the behind the scenes work that is going into before, you know, these these camps are relocated or cleared out.

It's I mean, this is weeks, months building of relationships, right?

>> It is.

It starts with A311 report.

So what we're asking folks to do is each time they see an encampment or see somebody in need is to call 311, go into 311 system online.

And there's a way that you can ask for help for an individual that might just need somebody that you see panhandling, that might.

>> Need some help.

Even if you just see.

>> Someone, you see someone needs help.

We'll send our outreach team out.

It does.

It goes straight to straight to the outreach team.

It does not go to the encampment team.

So they can just go straight out there and try to connect the folks to services.

If it's an encampment 311 there's levels.

So we kind of ask you to kind of tell us a little bit about it.

Location.

How many folks that you may see in there.

You know, I think the scale is 1 to 10 and we have ten plus.

We haven't had a ten plus in a long time.

I'd say at least six months.

We haven't had a larger encampment, but as soon as we get those three one reports by city ordinance, we have ten days.

But our response time is usually within that day or the next day.

So we really have a one day response time to go out and do the assessment tool on these encampments.

Once we do the the risk assessment that I kind of talked about earlier, we'll send out the outreach team.

If it's a 21 day notice, they'll go out there pretty much every day for 21 days trying to make sure that we connect those folks.

It's not an immediate 21 day.

So once we do the assessment, that's when I'll work with mayor's office and public Works to set a time table.

So it could be a month.

But even during those weeks that we're waiting to set a time, our outreach team is out there and even sending out to out to partners to come out.

So when we're going to post a 21 day notice three days before, we will send out notification to the coalition for the homeless and our outreach partners so they can start working as well.

We'll do a posting.

Our folks go out for 21 days.

The day before we go out, make sure that they understand that, you know, tomorrow's the day as well as our outreach team's doing that.

They're giving them, you know, they count down, if you will.

And then once we get out there, you know, try there's always an individual.

There's sometimes an individual that didn't want to leave that is waiting till the last second.

So sometimes we'll give them as much time as possible that we could still have to keep our timetable right, but still try to get those folks to grab their most important items and move to a new location.

>> So most of those people do end up moving on their own accord.

Do they end up going to shelters or just going to a different place to camp?

>> Well, our hope is shelter.

Yeah, right.

I mean, that would be where we would want them to go is to funnel either to some of the day shelters or the evening shelters.

And that's where our 24 hour shelter will help if we have a new 24 hour shelter.

But yeah, we're hoping that we've gotten those folks into some form of secure housing.

>> And then what are some of the things that when they are open to receiving your help, what are some of the things you help them with?

I mean, you mentioned getting an ID or Social Security card, some, some of those things that, you know, they're not going to be able to get medical care or anything without those, I'm assuming.

>> Yes.

So those things are easy for our team to get.

You know, we can help transport to shelters at any point if they want to get to a shelter.

We'll help transport to doctor's appointments.

If we are unable to transport, we'll give them park tickets so they can try to get there and back to wherever they are.

We also have the family reunification program, which has a little bit of background information, but if it's someone that is wanting to go home, say to Florida and they have somebody willing to accept them, kind of vouch for them, make sure that they have a place to stay and that they also have, you know, they can connect them with work and other services.

We just don't want to send somebody to Florida.

But if we have someone that can connect them to services, that's what we want to do is send them back to family.

>> Wow.

I mean, this is a daunting task.

How how many people are on these teams and how are how are they trained to to deal with these?

>> So we have ten on our outreach team.

And those folks vary in age from I think our youngest is 25, and we've got some that are a little more seasoned, right.

But they have a training program that we'll put them through.

It's 120 hours in their first six months.

It's 30 hours in their first 30 days.

So it's a lot that we put on.

We want them to be well equipped.

Most of the time.

We're trying to get those folks to be mental health specialists or peer support specialist, and if they're able to do those, that's what we'd like for them to be.

>> Are are there ever dangerous situations and how do you deal with that?

>> We're always going into unpredictable situations.

Our team, especially the outreach team, know that their safety comes first for us and if they need to kind of back out, regroup, ask for assistance, either from me or from other folks.

They go out in teams most of the time.

Most of them, you know, especially if they're going into the woods and somewhere a little deeper, they're on surface streets.

Sometimes they'll go by themselves.

But there have been some dangerous situations.

But really the the focus is, is trying to get some more help.

>> Yeah.

And how are how is your team usually received by the people in those, those camps.

>> Especially our outreach team?

I think once they get to know them at least probably a little reserved at first.

And we know that it takes a lot of touches, a lot of interactions to be able to get somebody ready for change.

So sometimes it's a little slow.

Others, I mean, it's just like you would meet anybody else.

I mean, some interactions are going to go better than others.

But once we kind of show that we care and we want to help them get off the streets, I think it moves a little quicker.

>> So we mentioned the community care campus that's going to fill a large hole, as well as those temporary shelters.

Affordable housing I know, as you mentioned, is a is a big part of the mayor's platform as well.

What are some other things that the city still needs to do to to help this, this issue?

>> Yeah, I think the community Care campus is going to be a game changer.

I think it really will help our young adults have a place to go.

Safe place is great.

It'll just give us another tool in our toolkit to be able to help.

The respite care really is is going to move some things forward.

Families.

I mean, that's probably the the worst thing I get all week is I get an email on Fridays talking about how many families are on the street.

We've really decreased that number in the past two years.

So once we were able to kind of get that community care campus family shelter open, that's going to be great.

>> Yeah.

And I know you mentioned the numbers too.

I know that over the past five years, really since Covid, and it's not just a Louisville issue across the country, I think that number has risen dramatically.

Where do things stand right now, and has there been any change since that Safer Kentucky Act was was passed?

>> There is our reports down are reports from 311 are down about 50% over two years ago.

We've cleaned up our larger camps.

We don't clean those as much.

So that's down almost 75% since 2023.

So our camps are getting smaller.

They're more one off now camps.

Not really seeing the larger camps like we did before.

>> So would you say something is working?

>> I'm hoping our team is working.

Yeah.

I mean, hoping that we're connecting folks with services and getting them off the streets.

I think that that has given us just another tool to be able to help.

>> Well, as we mentioned, it's not just a Louisville problem.

It's happening across the country.

What do you think other cities can learn from what Louisville is doing to try to help this issue in their own community?

>> We've developed a collaborative approach.

So it's not just homeless services.

We are training a lot of the Louisville Metro Police Department officers.

We have a team that's with us Monday through Friday trying to assist in.

Those folks are doing a great job at outreach, our public works team that's with us often.

But then also on the outreach side, you know, we've connected a lot with Saint John's home of the innocence, all those, you know, in everywhere in between, really trying to connect folks so that we're more collaborative unit going out and trying to strengthen our homeless response.

>> I imagine doing a job like this changes you.

What what have you learned from working with the homeless population, or what are some misconceptions the community has that are that are different from what real life is like?

>> So I think when I first started, I was had this grandier idea that I was going to help, you know, one person a day, right?

I was going to help somebody get into housing once a day.

It's not that easy.

I mean, it takes time.

It takes that relationship building, like we talked about earlier, to get someone to trust you.

But then also for the space, we know that we need more housing.

We need more 24 hour shelter.

So it just takes time.

You know, when someone calls, they're wanting us to get somebody into housing or get them off the streets right away, and it just doesn't work like that.

I mean, this is somebody that is really in need of a lot of assistance to help get off the streets.

>> What is the most common issue that you see with the homeless community?

Is it a is it mental health?

Is it poverty?

Is it need of food?

>> It's probably a little bit a combination of all of that.

There is some drug abuse, drug substance abuse.

There's mental health concerns.

Food.

Sure.

I mean, if you're living on the streets, there's not a lot of way to keep food cold or, you know, or to cook.

So we have a great support system, I think, in Louisville, the archdiocese, whether we refer to as Bologna Alley, you know, serves Franciscan shelter.

There's a lot of a lot of help out there for these individuals.

>> Well, how do you think Louisville stacks up with other communities in how the response to the homeless population is.

>> In comparison?

Our numbers are about the same, I think, as across the country.

Our response, I think, is better than most.

I think with that collaboration, I think that we're doing a better job collaborating.

>> What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your agency?

What you all do every day, and the homeless population?

>> So with our agency, I think the misconception is, is that we go in and give somebody two minutes to grab their stuff and go, and that's not the case.

There's a lot behind the scenes like we talked about earlier, the outreach help, because if we just go in and move somebody from another camp, we know they're just going to stay out there.

So it's really the outreach team that's getting in there and getting those folks connected to services.

The misconception with an individual homeless individual is probably that they're lazy, right?

I mean, I think that you become overwhelmed at what it will take to get off the streets, and that's where we have such great outreach team helping them each step of the way.

>> Is there is there sort of a motivation or mantra that keeps you doing this difficult job every day?

>> Do it anyway, right?

I mean, sometimes those days get tough and you're going to do it anyway, right?

I mean, that may not be your job to help, to be, you know, to keep going, but it is mine.

But, you know, there's other folks that that's what I tell my team is we're going to do it anyway today might be tough, might be tired from yesterday, but you're going to do it anyway.

>> You can watch and share this episode anytime.

You can find it online at ket.org.

Louisville.

And don't forget to follow us on social media for behind the scenes photos and more.

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Lou, thanks for spending a little time getting to know Louisville.

I hope we'll see you here next time.

Until then, make it a great week!