Lenexa might expand its winter homeless shelter months after rejecting permanent plan

Update: The Lenexa City Council approved the city code change to allow Project 1020 and other eligible churches to host 50 people experiencing homelessness, which will go into effect Feb. 25. The approval didn’t include the Planning Commission’s 250-person cap on the total number of individuals that can be served within city limits.

Despite cries that Lenexa would become “the Mecca” of homelessness, the city’s Planning Commission approved a change that could allow its temporary cold weather homeless shelter to serve more people — just months after the city rejected a plan for a permanent shelter.

The commission also recommended a cap on the total number of individuals that can be served within city limits as well as stricter enforcement protocols if participants break the rules. The City Council will make the final decision during its Feb. 18 meeting.

“Mainly I’m pleased that the commission has agreed to push it forward to the City Council,” said Barbara McEver, president and co-founder of Project 1020, Lenexa’s only cold weather shelter. “I think if it passes… forget about Project 1020, it’s going to help 20 more people.”

Project 1020 brought this proposal forward to the city last summer because it struggled to stay under the 30-person capacity limit as required by Lenexa’s Unified Development Code — which permits churches or places of worship to operate shelters as an accessory use if they meet certain criteria.

But the need for shelter has outpaced the capacity limits, Community and Development Director Scott McCullough told the commissioners during the meeting.

“There is pressure to serve even if the code has limits,” McCullough said.

A growing need

Project 1020 is Johnson County’s only operating temporary, seasonal homeless shelter, operating from December to April. The county does not have a permanent shelter.

In January alone, the Kansas City metro saw a record-breaking snowstorm and consecutive single-digit days — taking its toll on people living outside.

“We have three people right now [who] have frostbite on their toes, their feet, and hands — actually fingers — and two for sure happened during that cold spell. One of them is in the hospital now,” McEver told The Star in an interview after the meeting.

In order to keep its capacity down, McEver told commissioners that she purchased motel rooms for people — spending more than $15,000 on Sunday alone, which could have been spent on food, clothing, supplies or rental assistance to help people transition into more permanent housing, she said.

“But I also wanted to say when you look at 30 people … what would you do when it comes to person 31?” she asked. “It sounds like I’m being sarcastic, but I’m very genuine because I’m faced with it every night, what to do with number 31 or [32] when you know you’ve exhausted all of your efforts.”

Citywide change

The city’s code around allowing places of worship to operate homeless shelters stems from a 2019 lawsuit filed by Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church — which hosts Project 1020’s cold weather shelter. The lawsuit claimed that churches have the right to serve as a homeless shelter under the First Amendment’s freedom of religion.

Lenexa eventually reached an agreement with the Unitarian church, and amended its code in 2021 to allow churches that meet certain criteria — including that buildings must be 30,000 square feet in size, are located within within a half-mile of public transportation and meet city building and fire code requirements — to offer shelter services for up to 30 people. The shelter must be an accessory use to the church, and it must earn a separate certificate of occupancy.

As of Feb. 3, Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist remains the only church providing services out of eight that are eligible within city limits.

If the City Council approves the code change, all eligible churches could serve an increased 50 people, but commissioners had concerns about its impacts across Lenexa.

“We’re voting on a citywide revision,” Commissioner Cara Wagner said. “I would have concerns over allowing the maximum number of all potential churches, given where it’s one location now the increase seems OK but from a holistic level … It’s a lot.”

If all eight churches added a homeless shelter to their services, Lenexa could serve 400 people. While McCullough told commissioners that hitting 400 people is unlikely, the commissioners still recommended limiting the total number of people that could be served citywide to 250 people.

“Since the Planning Commission did recommend approval, if ultimately passed it would mean Project 1020 could house 50 individuals,” McCullough told The Star in an email. “Obviously, this still must be voted on by the Governing Body (City Council).”

He added that staff is looking into the commission’s recommendation and will share its thoughts with the City Council during its Feb. 18 meeting.

“It is a regional issue in that this does in some ways move forward that the concentration of services will remain in Lenexa unless they can do the other work to update codes and build shelter,” McCullough said during the meeting. “We know the need is beyond Lenexa.”

Resistance to shelter

Johnson County is seeing a steady rise in homelessness — with last year’s Point in Time Count tallying 250 people, a 6% increase from 2023 and a 44% increase from 2015. The county has some beds for families and women, but no permanent shelters for adults without children.

Past attempts to start a shelter have all stalled or failed, and sparked community pushback — including in Lenexa last year during a proposal to convert the La Quinta Inn at West 95th Street and Interstate 35 into a 50-bed shelter with private rooms and bathrooms. The City Council ultimately denied the project despite the need and legal threats.

The community’s hesitancy and frustration toward expanded homeless services seemed to linger during the February planning commission hearing. Lenexa resident Laura Owen said during public comment that the additional beds would establish a “very concerning precedent” making Lenexa a “hub for homelessness in Johnson County.”

Kelly Campbell, an attorney representing two Lenexa subsidiaries near Project 1020, said that this change would deter future developments in the corridor and push the city backwards.

“It’s bringing homeless people on a daily basis, it is encouraging concentration in that area,” she said. “Project 1020 hasn’t necessarily been a good provider, it sounds like they’ve gone over their limit and by the good graces of law enforcement, they haven’t been cited or it expires.”

Campbell and her clients are concerned that making this kind of amendment would reward “an institution that has already violated the current code.”

Part of the code update includes stricter penalties for code violations — like going over the capacity limit — that could result in the church losing its occupancy status for up to a year or longer if there’s repeated offenses.

Residents who spoke against the increased capacity supported the additional penalties.

Fellow Lenexa resident Jordan Schmeidler urged the city to collaborate with the church instead of “imposing sanctions,” against its work.

“The shelter in this church has stepped up where others have not. Operators are not criminals like many paint them to be. They are the good samaritan,” he said. “Don’t be worried about what [other] municipalities are doing or not doing … Let’s choose to be a city of care and dignity.”

This story was originally published February 5, 2025 at 4:01 PM.