KSHB 41 reporter La’Nita Brooks covers stories providing solutions and offering discussions on topics of crime and violence. She also covers stories in the Northland. Share your story idea with La’Nita.
Hope Faith shelter opens its doors at 5:30 every evening, but hours before, lines of people begin forming outside as people seek a safe place to spend the night inside.
Despite milder temperatures, the shelter reaches full capacity every night, highlighting a persistent crisis in Kansas City.
When it comes to addressing homelessness in the city, leaders say there's no time to waste.
"Realistically, there is about 4,000 on any given night, of homeless people in Kansas City," said Greg Parr, executive director of Neighbor to Neighbor.
At Neighbor to Neighbor (N2N), the focus centers on connecting people battling addiction and mental illness to vital resources. Parr sees a direct connection between substance abuse and crime in the community.
"Drugs and crime go together," said Parr. "Drug users do crime to support their habits. So, we here at N2N help reduce crime in Kansas City by helping people get sober and stay sober."
On Wednesday, the city introduced the Housing Gateway Program, a new initiative designed to enhance Kansas City's approach to reducing homelessness through collaboration with the local business community. Those working directly with homeless populations emphasize that collaboration is essential to making progress.
"I believe in collaboration, not competing," said Parr. "No agency does everything, so we all need each other."
Doug Langner, executive director of Hope Faith, agrees that partnership is crucial for addressing the crisis effectively.
"And so that means getting more agencies that work with the homeless to connect even more," Langer said. "It's imperative on anything to work together on this."
Langner has observed concerning trends in the population his organization serves. Not only are they seeing new faces, but a particular demographic is growing rapidly.
"The fastest group of people we're seeing is 55-plus and those who are employed or have some form of income," Langner said.
This trend points to a fundamental issue in the the community.
"I think it really points back to an affordability issue around housing," Langner said.
To address this urgent need, the city is investing $1 million to rapidly expand rehousing options, taking a systematic approach to the problem.
"I'm fully in support of this because it does a couple of things," said Langer. "First, it calls for accountability. I think that's something every community needs to have. If your homeless population keeps going up, we need to ask why, how, and then what we are going to do to solve it."
With coordinated community effort, he believes meaningful change is possible.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
—
