HumanKind to run Wichita’s emergency winter shelter with some changes to operations

HumanKind Ministries will once again run Wichita's emergency winter shelter this season after a unanimous City Council vote last week.

The no-barrier shelter will be operated around the clock in Midtown at the former Park Elementary building, which ultimately will be home to a multiagency homeless-services campus. The city hopes to open the shelter by Nov. 28 and have it running through March 31.

Adjustments to this year's shelter operations include a new initiative to pay clients for work inside the shelter, no set "door times" and a dedicated city staff member to be on site every day.

These changes follow client complaints of shortcomings last winter in basic life and health amenities and rules being enforced in ways that didn't make sense to them, as The Journal reported in March. Humankind officials described the conditions at last winter's shelter as imperfect but ultimately successful.

City officials last winter maintained office space at the shelter but never conducted a formal operational inspection. The same contract will be used this winter for the operator, but before Tuesday's vote Council Member Mike Hoheisel wanted to know the extent of the city's oversight.

Sally Stang, the director of city housing and community services, replied that there will be a dedicated staff member on site and rotating teams every day of the week, including weekends and holidays.

"A part of that is to help administer the security deposit and utility stipend program ... We need to have people on site to be connecting with folks," she said.

Clients will be able to enter at any time, city officials indicated, a change from last year when clients only had three windows of opportunity to come and go: 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Any one who showed up after 9 p.m. was denied entry.

Stang said that while there will be free-flowing entry, people who show up after lights out will have to sit in the waiting area to avoid disrupting sleeping clients.

Last year's winter shelter served 1,119 unique clients. The maximum number of people sheltered in one night was around 180, according to HumanKind.

HumanKind was the only organization to bid on the contract. Shelter operator applicants had to provide $150,000 in matching funds, or 25% of operating costs.

Stang said it will cost $967,194 to run the emergency shelter from late November through the end of March. That cost includes in-kind donations and expected volunteer hours. The city is providing $600,000 in federal money from its American Rescue Plan Act funds to cover expenses.

No housing vouchers left for the year

Stang also introduced a program to be implemented at this season's winter shelter: Clients will have the opportunity to receive stipends in exchange for completing tasks around the shelter, such as laundry, trash pickup, grounds maintenance, meal services and check-in services.

The stipend will be equivalent to $10 an hour and deposited into an account for clients to use for housing security deposits, rent and utilities, or application fees.

"We find it also actually can help people have a sense of ownership in where they're staying," Stang said.

After a question from Hoheisel, Stang said the $10 an hour was based on what peer support is paid through the housing department's contract with Breakthrough Club .

The shelter is opening at a time when aid for low-income housing is facing an unprecedented squeeze. This winter shelter will be the first one in recent years that will operate at a time when there are no housing vouchers available.

The housing choice voucher program is the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's major program for assisting very-low-income families, the elderly and the disabled secure shelter. Families and individuals are able to find their own housing, including single-family homes, townhouses and apartments. Participants are free to choose any housing that meets the requirements of the program and is not limited to units located in subsidized housing projects.

"This is the first winter since I've been here that we have zero vouchers. Zero housing vouchers," Stang told the council. "And that is just because of rising housing costs, and we can't house as many people with the dollars that we receive."

Her alternative: Provide up to six months of rent and utility assistance to the first 50 households on the Housing Choice Voucher wait list, prioritized for those with verified continued homelessness and a proven commitment to case management.

"The six months of rapid rehousing assistance will bridge the time until their names will likely be pulled from the Housing Choice Voucher program waiting list and will provide immediate housing for fifty currently homeless persons or households," she said.

There are over 10,000 households on the wait list for a housing voucher – a list that's become 400% longer since 2022, according to Stang. Nearly 250 of those on the list have been referred for a "homeless preference" voucher, meaning they have confirmed homelessness and case management tied to an agency.

Not a single housing choice voucher has been issued since May, she said, due to HUD mandating a moratorium until the next funding cycle. Increased housing costs reduce the number of families that can be served with the funding received from HUD.

"At the rate we went this year, it would take 20, 30 years to get through a list of 10,000 people," she said.

Both the stipend program and rehousing assistance will be paid from the city's remaining emergency rental assistance money from ARPA funds.