Wichita moves forward with homeless proposal over objection from HumanKind Ministries

Over the objection of the region’s largest homeless provider, Wichita City Council members voted Tuesday to apply for a federal grant for a facility combining a homeless shelter, affordable housing units and a social services hub.

The vote came after Housing Director Sally Stang acknowledged the combined campus would likely cost at least five times the $5.5 million in grant money the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has allocated Wichita through the HOME-ARP program.

“The way we’ve proposed it at this point is, we wanted to do something that is that home run swing,” Stang said.

Under the grant application that will be submitted to HUD, the city will use a competitive bid process to seek out willing providers that could help operate the city-owned shelter and housing units.

If a city-led single project does not start within one year, the Housing Department would issue a new RFP to fund multiple projects that provide supportive services, a non-congregate shelter and affordable housing units, Stang said.

No location for the proposed facility has been identified. That process can move forward if the application is approved. If the project fails to meet HUD requirements, the city will be on the hook to refund the federal dollars 14 years from now.

“We are incredibly pleased that homeless services are being discussed in this forum and that the city of Wichita wants to work with partner agencies to address the growing crisis that we’re seeing in our community,” said LaTasha St. Arnault, president of HumanKind Ministries, which provides shelter, low-income housing and wrap-around services for 15,000 individuals and families annually.

But she and other HumanKind board members asked that the vote on the proposal be tabled until the city could provide answers to logistical questions about the proposed facility.

“Providers fear that introducing a new facility owned and operated by the city of Wichita without experience in this space could further fracture a system of care in Wichita,” St. Arnault said.

“We believe that there is significant information missing that any agency or institution would need to actually pull this project together. We hope that the city will fill in those gaps in time, but it would be irresponsible for any nonprofit to move forward where there is significant gaps in information, implementation planning and sustainability.”

She also expressed concerns about placing housing and shelter services in the same facility.

“Having those units be on top of each other or in the same facility or going through the same front door or whatever would pose a lot of challenges logistically if not nearly impossible as it relates to [Kansas Housing Resources Corporation] and other overhead compliance watchdogs that we have to adhere to,” St. Arnault said.

Stang said the proposal has built-in flexibility and that those logistical questions can be answered along the way.

“There is definitely a need for more information and more discussion, and that’s why we built in a year to get a project launched so we can have those conversations and identify partners that come forward,” Stang said.

The city contracted with St. Louis-based Development Strategies to develop a needs assessment of the homeless ecosystem, relying on feedback from more than 20 local service providers. After hearing from HumanKind, City Manager Robert Layton requested that the council table its vote on the proposal.

“The reason why I ask for delay is because I’m unhappy with the response of the provider community to us, and . . . I want to do what’s been discussed during this meeting. That’s flush out the legitimate issues and then determine whether or not we’re going to have partners moving forward,” Layton said.

A substitute motion by council member Jeff Blubaugh to table the discussion until Dec. 20 failed. Despite voting for that substitute motion, Vice Mayor Becky Tuttle ultimately joined Mayor Brandon Whipple, Maggie Ballard and Mike Hoheisel in approving submission of the grant application. Blubaugh and Bryan Frye voted against the motion and Brandon Johnson abstained to avoid a potential conflict of interest.

Whipple said he’s confident that approving the grant application Tuesday was the right decision.

“Frankly, I trust our staff,” Whipple said. “I think a lot of the information that has been presented by one particular provider with the hopes that we slow this down is really about information, is about communication and getting information. It doesn’t seem to be about the nuts and bolts of this plan.”