Sedgwick County Commission debates role in solving homelessness; approves funding

The Sedgwick County Commission has dedicated $200,000 to the operation of an emergency winter shelter in northeast Wichita this winter.

The temporary location for the no-barrier 24/7 shelter at 2220 E. 21st St. was approved by the Wichita City Council last week after three hours of fiery public commentary.

The city agreed to provide $685,000 up front to operationalize the shelter in the coming weeks, and shelter operator HumanKind Ministries is also set to spend $200,000 on the project between now and March.

Sedgwick County’s $200,000 investment, which comes out of the $1 million annual mental health contingency fund, will help offset costs that Wichita had already agreed to pay. In other words, the project price tag remains the same, city spokesperson Megan Lovely confirmed to The Eagle.

After HumanKind announced in early October that it could not open its North Market shelter due to “facility issues and capacity constraints,” local officials scrambled to identify temporary solutions.

District 4 Commissioner Ryan Baty, who took a leadership role in that process, said it was an eye-opening experience for him.

“I didn’t think this issue of homelessness was going to take up as much time and as much energy as it has in my first year,” said Baty, who took office in January.

“We have to make decisions now about the economic health of this community, and we have to be a good steward of our resources. Doing nothing is not going to positively impact the trajectory of this situation. It will get worse.”

The board ultimately approved funding 5-0, but not before some members voiced their reservations.

“I’m not sure that this is the lane that we belong in, but it’s the lane we’re in right now because it’s an emergency,” District 3 Commissioner David Dennis said.

He said that in general, he thinks of shelters as “warehouses” that store people without solving underlying problems. But after learning that more than 40 people died on the streets of Wichita last winter, he said it would be unconscionable to do nothing.

District 5 Commissioner Jim Howell voted with the rest of the board but said he worries about the precedent it could set moving forward.

“We will have long-term challenges if we continue to think that the county is going to be equal partners or significant partners in issues of homeless services in this community,” Howell said.

“One of the concerns I have right now is that it seems like there is an assumption that everything we deal with in the community is a city and county problem . . . It’s actually simpler government to have one unit of government take care of a problem rather than two.”

District 2 Commissioner Sarah Lopez countered that nationally, counties are acknowledging the public health implications of homelessness and taking more leadership on the issue than they have in the past.

“There are families that are two, maybe three paychecks away from being homeless with them and their children, and we need to make sure that we are providing dignity to everybody that lives in our community,” Lopez said.

She said she contacted Wichita Public Schools about how much it would cost to provide busing for students who live in the neighborhood surrounding the temporary shelter who usually walk past the facility on their way to Gordon Parks Academy, a public pre-K-eighth grade school.

One concern brought forward by residents at the marathon City Council meeting was that the proximity of the temporary shelter to the school, the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Central Kansas and the TOP Early Learning Center daycare, could create an unsafe environment for children.

Lopez said USD 259 has agreed to pay for gas but that additional busing is still expected to cost roughly $45,000.

Baty said it’s important that conversations about combating homelessness don’t fizzle just because a temporary solution is in place. Ultimately, he said, the $9.5 million multi-agency center that Wichita plans to build with federal pandemic relief money is the key to connecting vulnerable people with the resources they need.

“I’m asking our staff, I’m asking our partners at the city and the nonprofit — let’s get to work on it now so April 1 we have some momentum,” he said.