As snowstorm blankets KC, homeless shelter opens to women, too. It's filling a gap
The timing, in many ways, couldn’t have been better for Lisa Gharst, 45, houseless for exactly one year.
“A year today,” she said Monday. “It was a domestic violence kind of thing.”
At 2 p.m., Gharst, bundled in a green hoodie and a neon yellow jacket, sat in the biting cold and snow — temperature at 25 degrees — on top of a white trash bag. Another covered her legs. Her husband, Travis Cosper, unconnected to the domestic violence, stood nearby.
Most nights, they sleep in a tent in a nearby encampment. But this night, they would be together in a warmer place at Hope Faith Homeless Assistance Campus, east of downtown, at 705 Virginia Ave. The day of Kansas City’s first major snow is also when, at 5 p.m., that Hope Faith newly opened its winter overnight shelter to women.
It was also the first time the overnight shelter was being opened to women.
“First time for men and women. It’s amazing,” Ghast said. “I get to stay in the same place (as) my husband. They’re letting 30 women in, and 75 men.”
‘One of my favorite places’
Gharst and Cosper, one of four people already waiting, wanted to make sure they each got a cot. Inside, they would receive hot food. Men would stay in one room, women in another.
A different downtown ministry that had previously been providing overnight stays to women is no longer doing so. Hope Faith is now providing the meals and overnight cots to 75 men and 30 women under contract with the city.
“We kind of have two main rooms,” said Doug Langner, Hope Faith’s executive director. “So the women are going to be down in our dining room. The men will be up in our other main space. And then we will have security, you know, making sure that it’s a safe, restful place.”
Jennifer Stewart, 40, and homeless since December 2020, was also waiting in the cold. Deeply religious, Stewart, who indicated that she had taken a vow of silence in 2023, texted some of her story on a reporter’s phone.
“I quit a 6 fig federal gov job... to serve the Lord in righteousness, just live by faith,” she wrote. Were it not for the overnight shelter, she said, she would be sleeping at the bus stop near 12th Street and Brooklyn Avenue, or the sidewalk.
“It is one of my favorite places,” Stewart wrote of Hope Faith, “because clearly sons of light are here.”
The danger to women on the streets
Langner said the organization’s goal now is to raise $60,000 to underwrite food and an additional 10 cots for women, for a total of 40, to cover costs over the next 90 days. Some money has already been raised.
“We, for sure, have the first three months of that, “ Langner said. “We’re trying to secure enough to make sure it goes through the whole three months.”
The need for overnight shelter for women goes beyond providing food, showers and protection from the cold, Langner said. In early November, he said, one of Hope Faith’s regular clients died on the streets. The cause of her death has yet to be made clear.
Advocates for the houseless people speak candidly about the physical abuse, sexual coercion and high rate of rape women who are houseless face.
“The thing is, it is definitely dangerous to be on the streets. It’s 10 times more dangerous to be a woman on the streets,” Langner said.
This story was originally published December 1, 2025 at 5:44 PM.
