Johnson County city changes law to allow homeless shelters, helping advocates fill need
The city of Lenexa has changed its laws to allow for homeless shelters, carving out a path for Johnson County’s winter shelter to continue operating and for an organization to propose a much-needed permanent shelter.
Lenexa is the second city this year, following Shawnee in January, to approve regulations for homeless shelters. Most Johnson County cities lack any written rules stating when or where a shelter is permissible, which has led to tense debates, both between advocates and neighbors, and in court.
And it has made it more difficult for advocates to build a year-round shelter for single, homeless adults — a desperate need as the county’s homeless population grows.
The Lenexa City Council voted unanimously last week to allow for homeless shelters, which was a win for Project 1020. The nonprofit offers the only place for single homeless adults to sleep in Johnson County in the winter.
Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church in Lenexa has been housing the shelter, but only after the church sued the city for the right to do so.
Out of the legal battle, both sides came to a three-year agreement, allowing the church to shelter up to 30 adults each night from December through March. Project 1020 is in its second year at the site. And Founder Barb McEver was unsure what would happen after 2022.
Following that lawsuit, the city began exploring adding homeless shelter regulations to its city code. And now under the new law, the shelter is allowed to operate each winter indefinitely, as long as it meets new regulations.
Under the city code, a homeless shelter is allowed as an accessory use to a place of worship. For most of the year, churches would only be allowed to serve up to 10 individuals each day.
During the winter, from November to April, a church could shelter up to 30 residents. But the building must be at least 30,000 square feet, among other stipulations. Along with Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church, three other churches in Lenexa could potentially be eligible, said Scott McCullough, community development director.
And an organization could propose opening a permanent homeless shelter in a commercial district in Lenexa, but a special use permit would be required, along with other restrictions.
Homeless advocates have said they are happy to now have guidelines and a clear path for proposing a shelter in some Johnson County cities. Leaders in other cities have yet to say whether they would consider taking similar steps as Shawnee and Lenexa have.
While homeless families have a few options for shelter in Johnson County, only a handful of beds are available for single women. And no permanent shelter exists for homeless single men.
Last year’s “point in time” count — a snapshot tally of the homeless population conducted by agencies across the country and locally — showed the number of individuals without stable housing in Johnson County has been on the rise. And the largest area of growth was among single adults without children.
One night in January 2020, the report showed, 180 people in Johnson County were living in emergency shelters, transitional housing, in tents, cars or on the streets. That’s up from 130 people in 2017.
