As Kansas City tries to revive pallet shelters for homeless, neighbors again push back
As Kansas City attempts to resurrect last year’s pallet shelter plan for the houseless, officials again face push back from community members who don’t want to live near the tiny homes.
A new resolution, proposed by Councilwoman Melissa Robinson, 3rd District, would direct the city manager’s office to develop a plan for how to fund, build and operate the shelters to help some of the estimated 2,000 people in Kansas City experiencing homelessness begin transitioning to permanent housing.
A similar ordinance proposed last April stalled because of disputes over the location. The latest measure designates a new site: the Municipal Farm, the former site of the city jail near the Truman Sports Complex.
The tiny houses would serve as emergency shelter for those who would otherwise be staying in tents, under bridges, in cars or on the street, for example. City and local agencies would help those in the shelters work toward permanent housing by providing wraparound social services, according to the proposal. This also ties into the city’s plans to decommission encampments as more shelter beds are made available.
The city is looking to invest about $1.7 million to cover the cost of 60 pallet shelters between 64 and 100 square feet, sanitation and health measures, social services and transportation. A $200,000 down payment was made for the pallets in June 2021.
“This is a big part of that recovery and relief for people in the city,” City Manager Brian Platt said during the unveiling of the tiny homes in late April of last year, when the city was considering a downtown location, including a city lot at 700 East 12th Street. But an agreement on that spot was never reached.
During a Houseless Task Force meeting on March 15, members dusted off the concept, this time sketching plans around the Municipal Farm, which stretches across a 441-acre expanse south of the Blue River and west of Interstate 435, in the Eastwood Hills Neighborhood.
Several Eastwood Hills residents who attended Wednesday’s City Council Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee want the city to draw up the plans elsewhere.
“It seems like the city has always dumped everything in that area,” said one neighborhood resident of nearly 50 years, who wore a shirt that read, “Conservative. Because not everyone can be a freeloader.”
A neighborhood resident of a quarter-century who also owns an apartment complex about 1,500 feet from the planned construction site suggested the city instead go to a more populated area — perhaps back to 12th Street, he suggested, so that the shelter could be better policed.
“We want to help and find a solution, but I just don’t understand how our neighborhood is going to lift these people up ... “ said one neighbor. Task force members previously acknowledged that the farm isn’t directly near services like bus stops.
Another neighborhood resident who works as a real estate agent said she worries property values would depreciate if the shelters moved in.
While most of those who gave public comment Wednesday opposed the ordinance, one woman said it was more an issue of communication.
She said while some members of the community really do want to be part of the solution, it felt as if the city sprang the plans on the neighborhood.
“We’re not NIMBYs,” said the resident and Realtor, referencing an acronym for the phrase “not in my back yard.”
The ordinance is set to come before committee for a vote in three weeks.
This story was originally published March 30, 2022 at 7:22 PM.
