A needed homeless shelter is coming to KC. But first it’ll house World Cup guests

Looking to benefit from the expected influx of visitors, an up-and-coming Kansas City nonprofit aimed at curbing homelessness is opening a hostel ahead of the FIFA World Cup.

And after the tournament, the group plans to turn the building into its home base and a new shelter for its clients — an approach city officials call much-needed innovation.

Open Doors Foundation, which currently offers low-barrier shelter space for men and other programs and services for those experiencing homelessness, is taking bookings now for The Hostel KC, which the organization built out in recent weeks off 14th Street and Agnes Avenue, just south of Interstate 70 from the Historic Northeast.

The hostel is geared toward those visiting Kansas City for the World Cup as the city prepares to host its first match between Argentina and Algeria next week.

“With the World Cup coming, we thought we should get creative,” said Mathew Smith, operations manager for Open Doors. “How do we, as a nonprofit, capitalize on the influx of people and spending, like all the small businesses and everyone else are?”

The answer wasn’t too far from what they already do best: Giving people who need one a place to stay. In this context, that meant soccer fans coming to town.

The team worked to restore a loft-type building and transform it into a hostel with exposed brick, sunny windows, bunk beds and amenities like a lounge area with games.

But after the World Cup, the hostel will be converted into a shelter for Open Doors’ clients who are experiencing homelessness with on-site services and space for its offices, taking advantage of the rehab work already done on the building to open the hostel.

The hostel’s lounge will become an in-house fundraising event space and other needs like a cafeteria will be added.

Open Doors started up in early 2025 and quickly outgrew its first shelter space on Independence Avenue and now operates out of a temporary location as it has expanded services for clients: cold weather shelter, job placement, assistance securing IDs and connecting with health services, opportunities for community service, a layaway program to provide cars for transportation and more.

And the organization looks to expand even more through 2027 as it eyes more substance abuse recovery work and housing for women and couples.

Open Doors leaders, which include Executive Director Derek Decker, also look to offer construction and contracting services — in line with Open Doors’ work on building its own hostel — to other organizations working to address homelessness, which could help those organizations save money on their own expansion projects.

“The goal is to utilize this opportunity to help bring some sustainability to the (homelessness) world,” Smith said.

A ribbon cutting ceremony for the hostel is scheduled for June 12.

The city has previously contracted with Open Doors to provide shelter space, and officials in the city’s office for homeless services call the nonprofit one of the city’s most valuable relationships.

“These guys are incredible, unbelievable,” said Josh Henges, homeless prevention coordinator for the city. “Their conversion rate to get people into employment is better than, I think, any shelter we’ve worked with in the four-and-a-half years that we’ve been doing this.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said.

Henges said the hostel shows Open Doors’ creativity and commitment to addressing homelessness in Kansas City.

Amber Holmes, who helps oversee the city’s efforts to address homelessness, said officials have served as a sounding board for Open Doors as it’s grown and evolved.

“I was blown away,” when the hostel idea came up, she said, calling it “brilliant.”

Henges said that Open Doors’ “innovation” is exactly what’s needed in a moment where homelessness is a local issue that has to be solved by local communities.

The work is especially crucial, he said, as the federal government has shifted the way it funds homelessness prevention efforts.

The Trump administration has shifted large amounts of money away from long-term housing and toward time-limited programs that focus on treatment for mental illness and addiction, the New York Times reported.

“There is far less funding for chronic unsheltered homelessness in the traditional ways that we’ve been used to over the last 20 years, so as the federal government shifts how it funds, the state also shifts how it funds,” Henges said. “So nonprofits in Kansas City that serve homeless folks are going to have to become innovative and creative if they want to sustain or maintain what they’re doing.”

Open Doors is showing what that looks like, he said.

Earlier this year, the city launched its Housing Gateway Program, teaming up with business leaders and other private organizations to revamp how it approaches providing services for people experiencing homelessness. The city placed seed funding into the program in February.

A regional board tasked with overseeing federal homelessness funding, called the Continuum of Care, faced controversy in April when multiple board members resigned from their leadership roles, citing concerns about transparency and conflicts of interest. The city has since launched a review.