Kansas Legislative session ends with no state funding for permanent homeless shelter in Wichita

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – The 2024 Kansas Legislative session is over and Wichita is left without state funding for a permanent homeless shelter in Wichita. On Thursday, 12 News looked into where the city stands on plans for the shelter and where the money could come from.

It’s been a bit of a setback for the City of Wichita, but Mayor Lily Wu says the city remains committed to fixing its homelessness problem. Wu said the city also has to be responsible for how it spends taxpayer dollars.

“Our community is facing a budget deficit in the upcoming years,” Wu said.

But homelessness is a top priority.

“I have heard from the community that homelessness is an issue that they want us to tackle,” Wu said.

The city is working hard to figure out ways to fund a permanent shelter, the mayor said.

“We are still working hard, trying to bring more community partners together so that we can have a community-wide solution that is not just from the City of Wichita, but really community-led,” she said.

United Methodist Open Door, a local group that works closely with the homeless population, points to the need for a permanent shelter. Executive Director Deann Smith touched on the importance of having a permanent shelter, pointing out that extreme weather can lead to severe illness and even death.

But since the legislature adjourned with no shelter money for Wichita, a timeline for the shelter is unclear.

“We’re working with our partner, Sedgwick County, as well as nonprofit organizations, as well as faith-based organizations in our community,” Wu said. “We have to do this together and it will require more collaboration.”

To get an idea of how the homeless situation looks in Wichita, the 2023 Wichita-Sedgwick County point-in-time count revealed a little more than 700 homeless individuals. But more than 3,300 people were identified as being a part of the Wichita-Sedgwick County Homeless Crisis Response System between October 2022 and September 2023.

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