ReStart homeless shelter faces closure, but Kansas City delays vote to help fund it
Without a cash infusion, a downtown Kansas City homeless shelter could close a big part of its operation within weeks. But the City Council won’t consider a funding proposal until later this month.
ReStart has been serving homeless Kansas Citians at Ninth and Harrison streets since 1981. Among other services, it provides emergency shelter for homeless single adults, and it’s the only area shelter that accepts anyone, including LGBTQ adults, unaccompanied minors, non-traditional families, people with HIV/AIDS and individuals released from from prison or psychiatric hospitals.
But funding for emergency shelters from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has been dwindling for years, said reStart CEO Stephanie Boyer. Now, the program’s 90 beds for single adults are unfunded, and the organization can’t continue to provide them. It will, however, continue to operate its shelter for families and run its many other programs.
“We have already started that reduction. … We have not been refilling those beds, knowing that this was the course that we were probably going to have to take,” Boyer said.
Boyer said reStart is working with people living there now to come up with housing plans and won’t immediately turn them out. But the organization has started turning down new requests for beds.
“So while we’re helping the folks that are here currently, there are many folks that we’re turning away that are now going to remain on the street. … If there aren’t dollars that come in, then I would say over the course of the next 30 to 45, 60 days, we would have those folks exited and not be bringing people in,” Boyer said.
It would take $1 million, she said, to save the 90 beds. The Kansas City Council is considering an ordinance to give reStart a $250,000 check, but the council’s Finance, Governance and Public Safety decided not to vote on the issue at its Wednesday morning meeting.
The proposal is expected to come up again March 18.
Councilwoman Katheryn Shields, who chairs the committee and represents the 4th District at-large, said she had requested information on reStart’s financial health and how the $250,000 might contribute toward making the organization financially solvent.
Shields said she had asked for similar information from reStart two years ago and not received it.
“I think before we give outside-of-the-budget dollars to any entity because they have financial crisis, we need to know what their plan is for moving forward,” Shields said.
Boyer said she had provided the council with past financial information and invited members to tour the facility.
“It sounds like there are clearly maybe more specific questions, but I don’t know what those are, so I can’t answer them,” Boyer said.
The proposal is sponsored by Councilman Brandon Ellington, 3rd District at-large, who does not serve on that committee and could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday.
Boyer said reStart was also seeking funding from businesses and private organizations across the community.
Boyer said the funding for emergency shelter services has been threatened for years as housing authorities increasingly prefer other models, including providing permanent housing for homeless individuals.
Not all emergency shelters rely on the federal funds reStart used to receive. City Union Mission, for example, which is also located downtown, doesn’t take state or federal funding.
Part of the challenge in funding the beds, Boyer said, is that single adults who are homeless may be less sympathetic than children and families. She said there is a perception that those people should be able to get on their feet, but that “there are so many circumstances that lead people into this.”
“Many of them are working,” Boyer said. “They are just not able to afford housing in Kansas City. Many have been evicted; many have lost jobs. Many have gone through divorce or lost their family. Many have suffered chronic medical conditions. We’ve had adults living in shelter who are currently undergoing chemotherapy treatment — lost their housing because they lost their job and they couldn’t afford their medical bills.”
This story was originally published March 4, 2020 at 1:47 PM.
