After complaints, Kansas City Council considers ways to help houseless LGBTQ community
Update: This resolution passed unopposed in City Council on Thursday.
Multiple studies show that LGBTQ people are at elevated risk of becoming homeless, and more likely to stay homeless longer than non-LGBTQ people.
In turn, Councilwoman Ryana Parks-Shaw, 5th District, sponsored legislation Wednesday that would ensure the city is more intentional and focused on addressing the needs of the LGBTQ community.
Her resolution, presented at Wednesday’s Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee, would direct City Manager Brian Platt, with the help of Kansas City’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer Commission, to “develop a plan that addresses the housing and shelter concerns, needs and options for persons who are houseless and LGBTQ in Kansas City...”
Dr. Marvia Jones, Kansas City’s new health director, said the study will include a look at social determinants of health in the LGBTQ community, including access to medical care, in order to see what needs are unmet.
Josh Henges, the city’s first ever homelessness prevention coordinator, got his start in the industry working with homeless youth, where he saw a disproportionate number of LGBTQ youth in shelters and on the street. He said as with youth, more resources are also desperately needed to help adult members of the LGBTQ community experiencing homelessness.
“There are still silos that we’ve got to break down in the social services community,” Henges told The Star. “And I really hope that we can get services to match the demand.”
Justice Horn, a member of the city’s LGBTQ Commission, said it’s not enough for the city to spend more without considering the specific needs of the LGBTQ community. He added that the problem won’t be going away anytime soon as LGBTQ youth continue being thrown out of their homes for coming forward about their identity. And still, some metro shelters have restrictions regarding those who are not cisgender or heterosexual.
Parks-Shaw’s resolution comes three weeks after community complaints about Our Spot KC, one of the only LGBTQ-focused housing organizations in Kansas City, was thrice denied funding allocated by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and distributed by the city.
“What I’m seeing here is KCMO would rather give homeless dollars to anyone but queer people,” Star Palmer, founder and executive director of Our Spot KC, said following a March 9 meeting of City Council’s Special Committee on Housing Policy, where some community members called the city’s prior public statements in support of the LGBTQ community “performative.”
Palmer was not available to comment on Wednesday’s resolution, which passed through committee unopposed on Wednesday. It will be presented before City Council on Thursday.
The Special Committee on Housing Policy is set to meet again at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Other matters related to homelessness
Another resolution proposed by Parks-Shaw would give the city manager’s office 60 days to study the feasibility of establishing hygiene facilities for people experiencing homelessness.
While the committee did not vote on the resolution this week, it did take public comments, including from one man in Kansas City who previously experienced homelessness. One winter, he said, he had to go 90 days without a shower.
“I dare anyone in a house to go a week without a shower and just see how you feel,” he told council members.
Also held for one week was an ordinance by Parks-Shaw to amend the prohibition on pitching a tent on any vacant or unenclosed lots on any property without consent. This would instead be replaced by language that only prohibits camping on private property without permission. It would also amend an ordinance which currently criminalizes loitering. Parks-Shaw’s proposed language is more explicit, adding that “no person shall be in violation ... unless such person has been given a reasonable opportunity to comply with such order after they received actual notice or where notice was directed to them and was reasonably likely to come to such person’s attention.”
Members of the West Plaza neighborhood association and a local business association publicly testified against this ordinance. Others, including advocates for those experiencing houselessness, spoke in favor. Parks-Shaw said the committee plans to consult the city’s legal department before voting.
Another resolution, proposed by Councilwoman Melissa Robinson, 3rd District, would direct the city manager’s office to conduct a feasibility assessment and a plan on how to fund, implement and operate a group of pallet shelter homes set to be built at the Municipal Farm. Several residents from the nearby Eastwood Hills neighborhood spoke in person in opposition of the city building the shelters on the Municipal Farm property.
The issue is set to come before committee for a vote in three weeks.
This story was originally published March 30, 2022 at 2:18 PM.
