Tackling homelessness: How Indio is addressing growing concerns on the streets

Homelessness is a growing problem on the streets of Indio.

Some residents have shared their concerns about what the city is doing to resolve this issue.

“How could they let the people, especially females, live on the street like this,” said Palm Desert resident John Barnwell.

Barnwell frequently makes trips to Indio and said he's shocked about what he sees when he’s there. “I’ve seen like 20 people behind there, I’m like what are all these people behind there like, what are those people doing? It’s open. So we kind of just went closer and realized it was just people of all ages that were living right there behind Denny’s.”

Barnwell feels that the city should make more of an effort to address the growing crisis. “There’s tons of old hotels that can turn into shelters, just for females only. And just let’s try to get these people off the street.”

News Channel 3's Samantha Lomibao met with Indio Mayor Waymond Fermon to talk about the issue at the corner of Monroe Street and Highway 111. “This is one of the most visible parts to our residents. And they see the activity out here with the unsheltered folks in our city,” said Fermon.

The City of Indio is one of the top four cities with the highest number of unsheltered people in Riverside County.

It’s seen a 27% increase in unhoused individuals from the last Point in Time count in 2021.

“This is where our outreach teams come out. So my goal is to offer those services on different levels, you know, from the mayor, to the outreach teams, to the law enforcement," Fermon explained, "You know, the goal of having them accepted."

The city works closely with Martha’s Village and Kitchen and the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission, but it’s not a solution for all of the unsheltered to get off the streets. “The shelter is not for everybody. There's, there's special situations," Fermon said, "The reality of it is there's a shortage of housing in our communities. And that's something that we're very, very active in, in the city of Indio is providing affordable housing to our residents.”

The mayor told us his strategy is to target illegal activities happening on the streets by adding patrols. “There are ordinances and parks and public spaces, and also the activity that takes place because it's not against the law to be homeless. However, the activities that take place sometimes are against the law.”

As well as working with local businesses and the community to get the homeless the help they need.

“We don't encourage folks to come out and give food in certain locations. And we don't we do not encourage the businesses to give out food," Fermon explained, "There's no incentive for the individuals to accept the resources that we have readily available for if they're getting it, the food here at these locations. However, we do support the missions of our people helping, but we prefer that we go through our nonprofits, where they have the facilities where they're safe. And while they're there at that location, we can provide those wraparound services or at least offer them for the day.”