Author: Abby Hoover | Released on October 29, 2021 | Tweet

The Department of Housing and Community Development updated the city council's plan to help the homeless communities in Kansas City this winter at a business meeting held at City Hall on Thursday, October 28.

The department estimates that between 1,700 and 2,000 homeless people in Kansas City live in parks, under bridges, on private land, on roads, and in some shelters. Although their estimates are conservative, they expect an increase in 2023.

One focus will be to strengthen cooperation with existing shelters to identify available beds and ensure that service providers make full use of resources, including creating a new online dashboard, updating bed availability daily, and sharing it among all service providers data.

When extreme weather or other emergencies increase the demand for services when the shelter is full, they will focus on preparing the overflow space, such as a community center. Last year, places such as the Garrison Community Center in Columbus Park were used.

From January to March 2021, New York City opened the Bartle Hall Convention Center as a heating center, which can accommodate up to 500 people per night, provide 28,000 meals, and connect the homeless with 15 partner institutions to provide society service.

Subsequently, New York City began to place people in hotels from April to July, while trying to connect them with services. According to the city government, nearly 120 people registered for first-time benefits such as medical insurance, medical assistance, and social security. Nearly 350 people have contact with housing service providers, most of whom have never participated in these projects, and more than 50 people have found jobs. Among the 220 people receiving medical care, nearly 20 received critical and potentially life-threatening medical care, and two babies were born safely.

Bartle Hall is not an option this year. Different city service agencies such as KCATA, the fire department and the health department are working with the American Red Cross to fill the gap.

"With the joint efforts of city staff, housing staff and our community assistance partners, we have developed a plan to keep people who need shelter this winter safe, warm, and weather-free," Housing and Said Jennifer Tidwell, Interim Director of Community Development. 

The task of the Homeless Working Group, chaired by Fifth District Councillor Ryana Parks-Shaw, is to interact with community members and lead discussions to better understand the needs of the homeless in Kansas City.

"The input of the community is very important for formulating new and better policies," Parks-Shaw said. "The issues surrounding homelessness are very widespread and will not be resolved within a year. This is a positive step in the right direction to provide compassionate, sustainable and sustainable solutions for ending homelessness in Kansas City. Intentional solutions. We have more work to do."  

In addition, the staff also put forward three preferred recommendations on "creative and innovative new permanent supportive housing options." City staff also recommended creative new permanent housing options, including three new permanent housing projects selected from 18 responses to New York City’s request for proposals.

“Bold and creative housing options are our focus for building 10,000 new affordable housing units in the next five years,” said City Manager Brian Platt. "Permanent supportive housing is essential to ending the homelessness of many of our residents." 

The first proposed proposal included the conversion of two vacant hotels into approximately 100 single-room apartments. This will include support services that link residents to social services through the navigation center. The proposal is for Days Inn at 5100 E. Linwood Blvd., Linwood, south of 31 and I-70. Lotus Care House’s $1.3 million proposal will work with KC Tenants to transform it into permanent supportive housing. During their transition to stable housing, it will also accommodate another 75 homeless people with medical needs.

The second suggested proposal is to cooperate with Merging KC to install approximately 30 Pallet "little houses" on Virginia Street in front of the Hope Faith Homeless Assistance Campus at 705 Virginia Avenue. The Pallet community proposal has been proposed before, but has been trapped in the Finance, Governance, and Public Safety Committee since July.

The $1 million project will provide 24-hour security, food, bathroom, water and laundry services on site. Comprehensive services will be provided by caseworkers and consultants, as well as employment assistance. It will serve as a transitional step in the choice of permanent housing.

A long-term solution was also proposed to provide funds for Amethyst Place to expand and build approximately 37 permanent affordable houses for single mothers and their children. Although New York City will contribute $300,000, Amethyst will seek other sources of funding, such as low-income housing tax credits. According to the department, the project will start construction in 2022, and the project will be completed in 2023.

According to the department, these proposals help improve the housing infrastructure and services achieved in the past few months, ranging from immediate assistance to long-term plan and policy changes, including the first affordable housing in New York City’s history. The Trust Fund allocates $12.5 million. The fund will incentivize the creation of affordable housing units and other housing options in larger multi-family development projects at other market prices. Decree No. 210873, held at the board meeting on Thursday, will establish a regulatory agency to review housing trust fund ("HTF") applications, including reporting requirements, funding directions, and priority of funding use; and require application procedures Start within 120 days.

The city has allocated US$14 million in emergency rental assistance funds to more than 3,000 households in Kansas City, averaging US$4,400 per household; it has developed a “housing vision” that outlines plans to build 10,000 affordable housing units by 2027 Established a new housing and community development department, the first batch of employees of the department dedicated to homelessness prevention and support, tenant advocacy, and the creation and protection of affordable housing; and through the land bank at a price of $1 Sell ​​abandoned houses and convert them into affordable houses; build affordable houses on vacant land owned by the city, land bank, or homestead administration; build affordable houses on city-owned property in creative ways, such as planning to convert economic Applicable housing units are included in the reconstruction of the Barney Allis parking plaza.

City Union Mission will open a "reservation" hotline, 2-1-1 and website to help understand the availability of beds. The agency announced on Friday a plan to increase bed capacity for homeless families, women and children.

Terry Megli, CEO of City Union Mission, said: “We want to use every available space in our family shelter to ensure that our guests feel safe, secure, valued and respected.” “Our long-term goal is to build a New family shelters, but as winter approaches, we are looking for short-term solutions to expand the capacity of beds in existing facilities."

In collaboration with Kansas City’s Shield Casework, Mission will install 8 custom “Murphy bed” units called DOME pods and more than 20 traditional bedding units to expand accommodation capacity by 30% while maintaining its family center functions . The DOME pod will be indoors, creating privacy in a large room like a gymnasium. They include a storage space under the bed, a lockable wardrobe, partitions, a socket, and an optional fabric canopy to enclose the DOME for added privacy and security.

Stephen Hopkins, founder and chief design officer of Shield Casework, said: "Providing solutions for homeless housing has always been our main focus. For several months, we have been producing DOME homeless nationwide. Shelter for returnees." "With the innovation of City Union Mission, we are happy to be able to bring this solution to local cities where we see demand every day."

The mission is seeking community support to help pay for the expansion and the additional staff and additional bathrooms and showers needed to accommodate more homeless guests.

"For families in crisis, a safe and comfortable bedroom provides a warm start to their journey of recovery," Meili said. "We ask the community to provide this comfortable space so that disadvantaged families can seek asylum this winter and throughout the year."

Also on Thursday, Resolution No. 21099 was passed, which will instruct the City Manager to coordinate with the New York City No Home Task Force to develop standard operating procedures for Kansas City camps and people occupying public property, and to propose any appropriate corresponding amendments Municipal Code to implement such procedures.

These resolutions will now be submitted to the committee, where they will be heard separately. Follow Tohoku News for updates on this development story.

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