Destination: Home

We've Got a New Strategic Plan

Last year, 535 individuals were identified as homeless in Evansville on a single night—the highest ever recorded during our annual point-in-time count.

Without intervention, that number could exceed 600 by 2030.

In response, the Commission on Homeless created a new 5-year strategic plan that replaced our existing 10-year plan in an effort to change the trajectory of homelessness in Greater Evansville.

Destination: Home 2025 was designed with considerable input from community stakeholders, allowing us to create a shared community vision. It includes a strong commitment to equity that targets groups that are often overlooked for having high rates of homelessness. It also encourages significant collaboration across multiple systems, which will promote local ownership and accountability.

Foundational Priorites

Five strategies serve as the foundation of the 2025 plan.

Prevention

Addressing the root causes of homelessness and strengthening supports for households at risk.

Unsheltered

Improving outreach efforts and connecting individuals to housing and basic services.

Sheltered

Enhancing the capacity, quality and accessibility of emergency and transitional shelters.

Mental Health

Integrating mental health and substance use treatment within the housing system.

Housing

Expanding the availability of affordable and supportive housing options across the community.

Three Main Goals

Targeted strategies will help us achieve three main goals by 2030.

Reduce overall homelessness in Evansville and Vanderburgh County by 20% by 2030.
Achieve "functional zero" for chronic, veteran and family homelessness. Functional zero means fewer people experience homelessness and, if they do, it's rare and brief.
Launch a public data dashboard to track DH2030 progress and promote transparency.

History of Destination: Home

Evansville made a formal commitment in 2002 to end homelessness in our community. We set out to develop a 10-year strategic action plan called Destination: Home to guide us as we worked to alleviate and ultimately end homelessness in Evansville.

The first Destination: Home was robust, taking about two years to complete. It was created using input from subject matter experts, formerly homeless individuals, service providers and the general public, and tons of data and research. Over 200 people participated in the development of Evansville’s first strategic plan to end homelessness.

Destination Home included:

A deep-dive into the root causes of homelessness
Who was most at risk for homelessness in our community
What they needed to achieve stability
What resources were currently available and unavailable locally to these individuals

It was a big deal, helping Evansville shift from a reactive to a proactive approach to preventing, diverting and ending homelessness. The original plan was used as the foundation for updates in 2012, 2022 and 2025.