KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Hope Faith, a homeless assistance campus in Kansas City, Missouri, says an offer from the city last week to extend their contract to provide its overnight winter shelter services through the end of March isn't feasible for the nonprofit, and it plans to close the overnight winter shelter as usual on March 1.
The nonprofit's overnight winter shelter runs from Dec. 1 through March 1.
Executive director Doug Langner said conversations with the city about extending overnight winter shelter services began last summer.
"We hadn't heard about that in a while, until a week before March 1, and it was just going to be tough because a lot of our staff is seasonal," Langner said.
Langner said that even with the warmer weather this week, about 130 people sought shelter Tuesday night at Hope Faith.
"March is probably the end of winter for real, you know what I'm saying?" Lionell, a guest of Hope Faith, said. "So, February is just still in the middle of it, so why close in the middle?"
Langner says he appreciates the city's efforts to seek opportunities to extend services, but he says the offer it made last week isn't feasible for Hope Faith.
"They asked us if we could do 25 beds at $50 a bed," he said. "Maybe if that bed number was able to go up, we might be able to make that work."
A city spokesperson told KSHB 41 she's looking into our questions about its funding offer for Hope Faith.
Langner said the costs of insurance, staffing, supplies, feeding guests, and bedding are too much for the offer.
"It just wouldn't work, especially that quick," he said.
Langner said he hopes the city can work with other organizations to make those beds available.
“What we are here to do is to make sure that we’re being as supportive of those who are unhoused in our city as we possibly can while also working responsibly with organizations," Mayor Quinton Lucas said.
The 2025-2026 fiscal year budget was submitted to the mayor and city council earlier this month, according to the city's website.
“I think we are doubling or tripling our plans for homelessness spending in Kansas City, Missouri, and we’re going to make sure we take care of those issues long-term," Lucas said.
The city council plans to adopt the budget on March 20, but it's required to adopt it by March 27, according to a spokesperson with the mayor's office.
KSHB 41 reporter Lily O’Shea Becker covers Franklin and Douglas counties in Kansas. Share your story idea with Lily.
—
