LAWRENCE, Kan. — In February, the city of Lawrence announced its new Homeless Solutions Division and Misty Bosch-Hastings as its director.
Since then, several new initiatives have launched, including a podcast to help facilitate discussions surrounding homeless-related issues in Lawrence.
"Collaborative Solutions" launched one June 6, where the four hosts — who together have decades of expertise in homelessness — introduced themselves.
"So the podcast, the reason I wanted to bring that here, is because, the only voices I was hearing in the community around homelessness were not positive, and there were a lot of positive things happening, but nobody was talking about that," Bosch-Hastings said.
It's hosted by Bosch-Hastings; Barry Feaker, who has 36 years of experience as the director of the Topeka Rescue Mission; Lawrence Community Shelter Executive Director James Chiselom; and Brett Hartford, the executive director of Lawrence's Homeless Resource Center.
Bosch-Hastings was working with Topeka's homeless population before moving to work with the city of Lawrence in 2023. Both her and Feaker agree that Lawrence is unique because of its government's involvement in homeless solutions.
“When I saw that the city was involved and invested and willing to put money up to find solutions, but then also the county was doing the same thing, I just felt like I couldn’t lose when I was coming here to create solutions and to end chronic homelessness," Bosch-Hastings said.
The podcast's goal is to amplify the voices of those directly connection to Lawrence's homeless population.
“The goal here is to end chronic homelessness in this area," Feaker said. "So, that’s a solution, but in order to get there, you have to have collaboration, you have to have as many entities working together.”
Other initiatives launched this year include a new homeless outreach team and asking the city commission for approval to put 32 more palettes behind the Lawrence Community Shelter, which would provide additional low-barrier shelter.
Lawrence's homeless population grew 51% from 2022 to 2023 to 351 individuals, and an annual survey is expected to reflect a growing population in 2024, according to the city. Bosch-Hastings said the 2024 Point-in-Time survey, which cities participate in annually to count their homeless populations, was conducted differently in Lawrence this year in an effort to get the most accurate data.
Bosch-Hastings attributes Lawrence's growing homeless population to housing prices and the city's low vacancy rate. Additionally, she said homeless individuals from other cities, counties and states have settled in Lawrence because of its robust services provided.
“We did see a lot of individuals coming out of corrections, out of hospitals, in our state and neighboring states and different cities," Bosch-Hastings said.
“There was no system in place that was recognizing that we can’t take on individuals from just anywhere, that we have to prioritize our own population here," she continued.
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