Indianapolis officials are preparing to address a growing homeless encampment beside Fall Creek Trail near the Monon, but the city has set no date for a cleanup — and says the people living at the site must be helped into housing before their belongings can be removed.
Trail users say they first noticed the camp more than a year ago and have watched it grow. As the tree cover thins, the camp is more visible from the trail and from a bridge connecting to the Monon, and belongings and trash have spilled toward the path. One regular trail user said flooding along the creek brings more trash into view; another called the conditions an environmental concern and said he hopes the city can help the campers find housing.
The city's Office of Public Health and Safety says it is aware of the camp. City workers were at the site assessing it on Wednesday, Oct. 14, and the office plans to meet early next week to discuss next steps, but it had no cleanup timeline as of Wednesday.
The camp is part of a wider challenge in the city. The January 2026 point-in-time count found 1,821 people experiencing homelessness in Indianapolis, about the same as the year before, with 272 of them unsheltered, according to the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention. The city's Streets to Home Indy initiative, launched in July 2025, closed seven camps in its first year and, by July 2026, had helped 220 people into housing — 95 percent of whom remained housed, according to city figures.
