KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A public meeting Wednesday night brought new details on a proposal to add a low-barrier shelter space in Kansas City.
The proposal would add 80 more beds to Hope Faith's existing shelter. There would not be an entirely new shelter, as some in the neighborhood feared.
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Two opposing viewpoints became clear at the meeting.
Many fear the move to add more beds would bring more people to the streets, while others believe it's the solution to get people off them.
Many in the neighborhood who came to the meeting say there should be more space, but it shouldn't be put in Hope Faith, saying there are already several shelters there.
"We want to embrace this. But instead of it being 80 beds, can we do 20 here, can we do 20 there," KCMO City Councilwoman Melissa Robinson said at the meeting.
City Manager Brian Platt was at the meeting to address concerns and taking questions.
Platt disagrees with the notion that it would bring more people into the area.
"This is something we see as resolving a local issue inside this community here," Platt said. "We're not bringing people from other places, we're trying to get people off the street who are already here."
Platt says if the proposal would be approved, it would not be the only low-barrier shelter planned, just the first of many.
"We don't want only one giant shelter in one location," he said. "We don't want to concentrate all the homeless people in one location. We want to do it everywhere. We want to meet people where they are."
