Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday will hear a report on how Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center has used city funding for its homeless outreach services.
The city awarded Bert Nash $573,141 in special alcohol sales tax funding for the center’s homeless outreach team to continue its work in 2023.
The city-funded component of the HOT was intended to help a minimum of 60 households find housing throughout the year; according to a presentation in the meeting agenda, 100 households served obtained housing in 2023, including 89 single-person households and 11 families.
The team assisted 353 new individual households and 41 new families who had never been served by Bert Nash before; it also served 80 children, according to the agenda item. In addition, 44 households avoided eviction, 25 households obtained employment and 27 were referred to a specialist to help get Social Security and disability services, according to the agenda.
The team spent a bit less money than expected on personnel, travel and training, and a bit more than planned in “client flex funding,” according to a budget in the agenda.
About $78,000 of $206,000 in total flex funds went toward rent and deposit assistance; about $68,500 went to hotel stays; and another $41,000 went to helping people obtain identification, birth certificates, supplies and food, and providing relocation transportation, according to a breakdown in the agenda.
Bert-Nash-HOT-2023-budget2Kansas statute directs cities with a population of 6,000 or more to receive 70% of the collected taxes from alcohol sales and distribute part of that money to a special alcohol and drug programs fund. Commissioners in May approved an ordinance that dissolved the Special Alcohol Funding Advisory Board, which previously provided some community oversight of how those funds were spent.
Commissioners in May also approved an agreement to give Bert Nash $412,098 for 2024.
See the full meeting agenda item at this link.
Land development code update
The commission will also hear an update on the land development code rewrite. Elizabeth Garvin of Clarion Associates, the firm the city has contracted to guide code updates, will give a presentation, according to the agenda.
The update is a work session, so the commission will not take any binding action on Tuesday.
The update will include an overview of changes recommended in the draft code update. Read more about the update and what it means in the articles at this link and see Tuesday’s agenda item at this link.
Affordable housing tax breaks
As part of the commissioners’ consent agenda — a list of items that are generally approved with one motion unless a commissioner requests to further discuss a specific item — they will consider receiving a request for tax breaks from a company seeking to build a 250-unit affordable housing development at 3100 Michigan St.
The development would include one-, two- and three-bedroom units, according to the agenda. The project was submitted by Bison Affordable Development, an LLC formed in May by Bryan Elsey. Elsey is an owner of The Prime Company, the Manhattan-based company that sought to build an affordable apartment complex in the Brook Creek neighborhood last year. Planning commissioners voted to deny a rezoning request related to that project in October.
If approved, the commissioners would only be accepting the proposal for review and consideration. There would be many more steps before they’d consider final approval of the requested tax breaks.
The commission will meet at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, July 2 at Lawrence City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St. Meetings are open to the public and livestreamed on the city’s YouTube channel, youtube.com/@lawrenceksvideo, and Midco channel 25.
See the complete meeting agenda at this link.
People may submit written public comment until noon the day of the meeting by emailing ccagendas@lawrenceks.org. The commission also hears public comment in person and via Zoom during meetings. Register for Tuesday’s Zoom meeting at this link.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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