KSHB 41 reporter Rachel Henderson covers issues in Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties. Send Rachel a story idea.
This week, Kansas City, Missouri’s City Council may have the opportunity to vote on whether to provide federal funding for a low barrier housing shelter once again.
It’s not the first time this issue has been brought before the city.
“It sounds like we were nominated again, so we’re kind of right back to where we were, and so, if the council’s ready, we’re ready to get moving forward on some solutions for people that desperately need it in our city,” said Doug Langner, the executive director of Hope Faith’s homeless assistance campus.
According to data from a 2023 study from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Kansas City has the highest rate of chronic homelessness per capita in the United States.
Roy Trout has been homeless for three decades.
“I was left at 15 years old on the street with nothing but a pair of clothes on my back,” Trout said. “It’s easy to look down on a person — 'You’re mentally ill, you’re a drug addict, you’re this, you’re that.’”
He was at Hope Faith on Monday around lunchtime when he met Langner for the first time.
It wasn’t his first time, however, being surrounded by homeless people like himself.
“They’ve given up,” Trout said. “They’ve tried for so long to get help and there’s no help. There’s just repetitive cycle after cycle.”
With 280 individuals experiencing chronic homelessness, or repeated homelessness after a year due to an illness, addiction or other condition, the number doesn’t appear to measure up to a larger metropolitan area like Los Angeles.
Trout says unlike his peers, he’s motivated to see a change in his community, something he’s using his "Homeless Lives Matter" Facebook group to do.
With over 10,000 followers, he wants to provide a safe space for homeless people to share their stories.
"Opportunity is the biggest problem America has for homelessness," Trout said. "The fact is, most of these people out there, there’s one thing that’s missing in their eyes — it’s called hope; they have no hope."
Ninety-five point seven percent of those chronically homeless individuals like Trout are unsheltered, making Kansas City’s number higher than Los Angeles, Long Beach, Raleigh, and other major cities.
"Other cities are doing that; they are actually tackling this problem, and we want to have that solution here in Kansas City as well," Langner said.
Back in April, the council voted to re-open the Request for Proposal, or RFP, and give organizations another 30 days to apply to receive federal HOME Investment Partnerships American Rescue Plan Program (HOME-ARP) funds to build a low barrier shelter.
"It doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want, however, what it does mean is you can come in as you are," Langner said. "If you’re safe to yourself and others, you can come inside and get the services you need."
It also means that instead of being open solely during the day, it would then operate 24/7 and offer bedding, something they only do during the winter.
"We would reconfigure to where we still have our daytime services, where we help people find housing, help people connect to other services, but it would allow for shelter overnight, 365 days a year," Langner said. "What I know is, sleeping on the streets is dangerous."
So for now, people sleep inside while they can.
Up until the April vote, Hope Faith’s homeless assistance campus believed it was to receive these funds, after initially being chosen.
That decision was met with opposition, including complaints from Columbus Park neighbors near Hope Faith’s campus along Virginia and Admiral, as well as people asking for multiple shelters to be built across the city.
On Tuesday, the Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee will review the newest ordinance, "authorizing the City Manager to engage in contract negotiations with Hope Faith-Homeless Assistance Campus to provide a non-congregate, low-barrier shelter facility and Care Beyond The Boulevard for ancillary services to assist unsheltered families and individuals using previously-appropriated HOME ARP funds under an RFP."
Care Beyond the Boulevard, a group that provides free healthcare services and medical respite to homeless people in Kansas City, says they applied for the funds the first time around as well.
"I did it solely for supportive services for medical respite," said KK Assmann, the founder of Care Beyond the Boulevard.
Assmann says this second time around, she wanted to be able to offer an option and get the ball rolling on the shelter being built.
"I was concerned that this is going to get caught up again, and we’re one of the only cities in the U.S. with no low barrier shelter," Assmann said. "I do feel like Hope Faith is best positioned to have the larger scale low barrier shelter, but if they’re not going to get awarded that for whatever reason, I feel like that we are the next best choice."
Now, she says, it’s important to have a sense of urgency.
“We’re fighting something that can reduce that homelessness, so it’s time to make something happen,” Assmann said. “I do know that the city has got to get these funds contracted or they’re going to lose the money, that can’t happen.”
Care Beyond the Boulevard operates on a smaller scale than Hope Faith, with only eight beds.
Assmann says their goal is to have 38 beds, and she believes it would take between $8-10 million to purchase and renovate a building with low barrier capabilities.
However, she says the medical services they currently offer are technically low barrier, just on a smaller scale.
“When you talk about true low-barrier, we’re not completely because we do have a requirement of a medical need to come into our respite,” Assmann said.
Assmann said it’s hard to say whether or not she’s optimistic about the week’s bending votes, as she found out after a reporter called her about the most recent ordinance only a week prior.
“I think for us, it will be good to know what the plan is, how much of these funds are going towards us, so we can budget accordingly,” Assmann said.
She says there were multiple categories of funding from HOME ARP, each with varying amounts of money including non-congregate housing (low barrier), operating services and administration of the program
“I don’t have a clue what that looks like,” Assmann said. “It will be nice to find that out.”
Assmann says knowing how much Care Beyond the Boulevard is receiving will be a “game-changer.”
“We don’t expect to be getting anything for the low barrier shelter piece, which is fine, but having the capital to run the medical respite is huge for funders,” Assmann said. “So it really could be pivotal in our growth and our ability to continue providing services.”
Initially, Hope Faith was to receive $7.1 million for the low barrier shelter out of a total of $8,397,188 of HOME ARP funds, as outlined in the initial fund allocation plan.
Assmann and Langner hope Tuesday’s decision provides some clarity.
A city spokesperson says if Tuesday’s ordinance passes, it will move to the city council for a full vote, which would take place Thursday.
“Honestly, it’s out of our hands,” Langner said. “It’s up to our elected leaders to move forward or not.”
As for Trout, he says a shelter is a temporary fix to what should be a long-term goal in this city and country.
“Overnight is great, but here’s the problem, we can spend money on overnights and waste money, and it takes the same amount of money to build housing,” Trout said. Permanent, subsidized housing.”
Langner agrees, but says showing up Tuesday is a start.
So, Trout plans to join him.
“Some people are out here by chance, some people are out here by choice,” Trout said. “If they don’t want to be out here, then they should have the opportunity to not be out here.”
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