Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday approved a $3.5 million agreement with the Lawrence Community Shelter, with the understanding that LCS is expected to decrease its dependence on city funding.
The shelter’s staff operate the main shelter on the eastern edge of town at 3655 E. 25th St. and the Pallet shelter village at 256 N. Michigan St. to ensure that people experiencing homelessness have a place to sleep.
The contract had been on the commission’s consent agenda (a list of items that are generally considered routine and approved with one motion), but Mayor Mike Dever pulled it for discussion.
Dever wanted to emphasize that as part of the 2025 agreement for funding, LCS must commit to goals to reduce its dependency on the city by 10% by the end of this year and by 25% by the end of 2026. (Read more about the agreement in this article.)
The funds were already included in the city budget for this year. About $600,000 of the total will come from the city’s special alcohol fund, or money received from a special sales tax on alcohol. The rest will come from the affordable housing sales tax fund and general fund.
“As time goes by, this money is going to go away, and I want to make sure that we as a commission are acknowledging that this money is going to be diminished, and that we want to make sure that we’re trying to help move the process along,” Dever said.
LCS Executive Director James Chiselom said the shelter has started restructuring its organization, including contracting with Barry Feaker as a director of strategic development and public relations to help with fundraising and cultivating relationships with donors.
Assistant City Manager Brandon McGuire said this is the first year the city is funding the agreement without federal COVID-19 relief dollars, which have dried up.
Lawrence voters in November approved a citywide affordable housing sales tax increase. Effective in April, the city will collect an extra nickel per $100 spent to support homelessness initiatives and creating new affordable housing. (Read more about that at this link and check out how the city voted on the ballot question at this link.)
“We are very grateful to the community for supporting this initiative in this contract by imposing a sales tax increase on themselves,” McGuire said.
During public comment, Nancy Snow, a community member who has advocated for people experiencing homelessness, told the commission that LCS had turned two people and their dog away during recent extreme cold temperatures. She said she had taken them to get a hotel room.
“This is not helping,” Snow said.
Another person who did not provide their name told the commission that “we can’t even guarantee what our economy is going to be like in the next five months,” and people’s wallets could close quickly as a result of changes at the federal level.
Commissioner Amber Sellers said the commission has the authority to modify agreements in the future, but the shelter is necessary, and the city needed to keep in mind what changes in federal funding could mean in the future.
“At any point, one of us may or may not (need emergency shelter), but I think we’d all rather have that safety net there than not have it there,” she said.
Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the agreement.
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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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