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TOPEKA — One study estimates that approximately 2,600 Kansans experience homelessness every day. Lawmakers tasked with reducing that number will decide whether a $40 million fund is the best way to provide support to struggling communities.
“The Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services’ Assistant Secretary of Programs Andy Brown said. outlined A potential path to reducing homelessness in the state was laid out Thursday.
“The fact that we have a high rate of unsheltered people means we have a high profile of homelessness,” Brown told members of the House Welfare Reform Committee. “If we can reduce the rate of unsheltered homelessness, it will become less visible.”
The Reform Commission is tasked with addressing the state’s homelessness problem, but the commission’s efforts have been slow. DDuring last year’s session, committee members considered a bill that would criminalize homelessness, but the bill died after a public backlash.
In this session, cCommittee chair Rep. Francis Auerkamp (R-St. Mary’s) characterized the state’s homelessness problem as “not a huge problem,” but “certainly something we need to look at addressing.”
In an early session of this legislative session, the committee signaled it would seek guidance from outside the state, listening to the views of the CEOs of national liberal groups. The growing homeless problem across the stateFlorida groups support ban candy and soft drinks and Funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs and Observing Conferences on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs danger of “Welfare protection fraud””
During Thursday’s discussion, Brown pointed to the 2023 tally, an annual survey of people experiencing homelessness, to provide an overview of the state’s homeless population. The study counted 2,636 people experiencing homelessness. An estimated 40% of those surveyed had some kind of disability. Of those counted, 21% reported living with a serious mental illness. Approximately 16% of those surveyed reported struggling with a substance use disorder.
Homelessness has worsened over the past three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, rising costs of living, and other circumstances. Approximately 29% of homeless people in the state are unsheltered; These people have no access to shelters or temporary housing programs. Instead, these residents sleep in encampments, vehicles, and other areas not intended for habitation.
About 17% of Kansas’ homeless population, or 465 people, accounted for more than 50% of those using overnight shelter beds. Brown said emergency shelters are eventually filling up because people in the state are not moving from emergency shelters to other forms of shelter.
KDADS staff worked with Governor Laura Kelly’s office on proposed legislation to alleviate some of the local-level burdens on communities.
House Bill 2723 We plan to create a program to be administered by KDADS to address homelessness at the local level. A one-year allocation of $40 million in fiscal year 2025 will provide grants to Kansas local governments to build or improve shelters and homeless services.
“The important lesson here is that we can solve this problem here in Kansas if we show political will, have enough training, and stick to an evidence-based model.” Mr. Brown said..
The committee will hold a hearing on the bill on March 5th.
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