Sedgwick County Commissioners have voted unanimously to provide $200,000 in funding to help with the costs of an emergency homeless shelter this winter.
The Wichita City Council has approved a budget of $685,000 to operate a shelter through March 31st. The shelter will be located in the former Fundamental Learning Center near 21st and Grove. It will be operated by Humankind Ministries, which is providing $200,000 toward the operational costs, and it will house up to 250 people.
Commissioner Ryan Baty said the shelter is just a stopgap, an urgent solution to an urgent need, and there is more work to be done. He said there is no plan in place for April 1st when the emergency shelter closes, so he said the county and its staff need to be engaged “full throttle” on the issue. Baty wants to see an interim plan that moves the community a step closer toward a multi-agency center that the City of Wichita has been working. He said the issue of homelessness is trending toward a much larger crisis and doing nothing will make the trajectory worse, so the county needs to be involved in the larger discussion with the city, nonprofit agencies, the business community, the faith community and the state to find a long-term solution. Baty said more data is also needed on the costs involved and the community needs to understand what’s at stake.
The shelter is expected to open by early December.
