With coffee shops and libraries closed, Kansas City eyes port-a-potties for homeless
As the novel coronavirus spreads through the Kansas City area, officials are taking steps to protect the area’s most vulnerable residents: the homeless.
Last week, the City Council approved a contract to provide hotel rooms to homeless residents in need of a place to quarantine. On Wednesday, the Neighborhood Planning and Development Committee voted unanimously to ask acting City Manager Earnest Rouse to work with downtown neighborhood officials to provide portable restrooms. The full City Council is expected to vote on the issue Thursday.
Councilwoman Andrea Bough, 6th District at-large, said those facilities are already being placed around the downtown area.
“As libraries, coffee shops, other places are closing and our homeless population do not have a place to use restroom facilities — they now have access to those,” she said.
So far, 20 portable restrooms and hand washing stations have been placed around downtown, the River Market and the Crossroads Arts District, according to a newsletter from the Downtown Council.
Bough’s ordinance would instruct Rouse to work with the downtown and River Market community improvement districts, which already provide cleaning and beautification services to the area. The ordinance does not yet offer any city funds. She said the legislation is intended to catch the city up with a process that has already begun.
COVID-19 is already an outsized threat to the homeless, who are typically older and my have underlying health issues. Without access to businesses and public spaces, which are closed because of the virus, it would be extraordinarily difficult for them to follow hand washing recommendations.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California warned in a March 25 study that the spread of coronavirus “is creating a severe and emergent health crisis for the homeless population across the United States.”
Researchers said it is “a crisis that our shelter and health systems are simply not adequately prepared to meet.”
The City Council had previously approved closing off a portion of Virginia Avenue to provide space for a tent village, where homeless people can now get meals, health checks and showers.
To find out more about Kansas City’s response to the coronavirus, you can text “COVIDKC” to 888-777 or visit the city’s website at kcmo.gov/coronavirus. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has information at cdc.gov/coronavirus, and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has a hotline at 877-435-8411.
This story was originally published April 8, 2020 at 3:36 PM.
