KC's winter shelter money comes up short
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Kansas City's winter shelter budget is about $485,000 short after leftover cannabis tax money the city counted on never arrived.
Why it matters: Without the money, the city says, it can't offer as many beds as it has in past winters, just as more people are living unsheltered.
Zoom in: Covering the gap would let the city fund about 500 low-barrier shelter beds this winter, slightly more than the roughly 490 it funded last year, the city tells Axios.
- Without that money, the city would fund about 370.
- Community partners also offered about 440 beds last winter, bringing the city's plan to about 930.
By the numbers: The Greater Kansas City Coalition to End Homelessness counted nearly 1,200 unsheltered adults in Jackson and Wyandotte counties in January, up about 16% from a year earlier.
- Nearly 4 in 10 of them said it was their first time without a place to live.
- Deputy housing director Mary Owens told the council's Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee on Tuesday that she expects unsheltered homelessness to rise this winter.
Context: Last winter, about $1.2 million in cannabis tax money left over from the year before helped pay for homeless services, including expanded shelters, the city says.
- The housing department expected similar leftover money this year, but it wasn't there, Owens said.
Follow the money: The committee unanimously backed covering the gap with money from the tax's neighborhood cleanup share, using cleanup money the city projects will go unspent this fiscal year.
- Voters approved the 3% city tax on recreational cannabis in 2023, and it's split evenly between neighborhood cleanup, homelessness and violence prevention.
- City staff said neighborhoods would still have enough money to cover existing operations.
- The city says $240,000 of this winter's shelter money will come from its Housing Gateway program.
Yes, but: The fix leans on leftover money again, and some committee members said the bigger issue is making sure the shortfall doesn't happen again.
What's next: Long term, the city wants to rely less on seasonal shelters by adding year-round beds and helping people move into housing faster through Housing Gateway, it says.
- The full City Council is scheduled to vote on the transfer Thursday.