KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City nonprofit Merging KC has a plan to help end homelessness in the Kansas City area.
Houston DeFoe and Jennifer McCartney are the co-founders of Merging KC, a 501 (c)(3) which formed in the Spring of 2020.
The group works with other organizations around the area to provide resources to those suffering from homelessness.
McCartney said the two have had the idea for designated homeless camps for quite some time now.
"This is the time that we can finally roll up our sleeves and say we're going to do this, we're not going to talk about it, we're going to do it," McCartney said. "Just to see the possibility for this to happen and the awesome benefit that's going to happen to the people of our city and us, it's just amazing."
The camps would provide a temporary place to live for people until they are able to secure more permanent housing.
DeFoe said he has a location in mind for the first site, but he isn't quite ready to share it yet. In total the project would have 24 camp sites.
The sites would also provide daily meals, mobile showers, a mailbox so people living there can have an address, and access to mental health and career services.
"We're not just throwing people into tents," DeFoe said. "We're actually providing some real services to make sure they're healthy, clean, and there's a lot of moving parts to this."
DeFoe works as a security consultant and said he often encounters issues involving homeless people.
"We are constantly chasing off homeless from private, commercial properties downtown," DeFoe said.
DeFoe said the sites would benefit downtown KC by decreasing crime and increasing cleanliness.
"It gets them out of an alleyway, it gets them out of a commercial property or if you live downtown maybe you don't want to wake up to somebody sleeping in your hallway," DeFoe said.
McCartney and DeFoe said they already have the volunteer support to help create the sites. Now, they need the city to get on board.
"We've got to talk to city planning for codes, this is something that has never existed so we have to make sure the city is sanctioning it," DeFoe said.
DeFoe said he is hoping Land Bank of Kansas City will donate the plot of land for the first site. As soon as he is able to secure it, he said he feels confident work will begin right away and the first site could be up and running by this Winter.
As their vision gets closer to becoming reality, they hope community members will do their part to help make Kansas City a better place. They said they are always looking for volunteers for Merging KC.
"I really hope that people educate themselves and jump aboard and support because good things are coming."
