Post updated at 5:31 p.m. Monday, July 10:
After months of criticism from residents and business leaders, the City of Lawrence is planning to create a department specifically focused on unhoused people.
The Lawrence city manager’s proposed budget for 2024 includes creation of a Homeless Programs Department with a budget of $2 million. The draft budget anticipates about $471.3 million in total expenditures in 2024.
“Affordable housing and homelessness were the top identified issues facing our community during the strategic planning process,” City Manager Craig Owens wrote in his 2024 budget memo to the commission.
City commissioners will review the draft budget Tuesday during their regular meeting at City Hall. The budget discussion will be a work session, so the commissioners will provide feedback and hear public comment but will not take any binding votes on the budget.
There are more than 200 people experiencing homelessness in Lawrence currently, according to the city’s estimates, which city and county staff members have consistently said is likely much lower than the true number.
The city is not a service provider. Instead, the city provides emergency and sanctuary shelter, giving providers such as Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center’s Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) access to the population.
The city provided HOT $522,574 to conduct homeless outreach in 2022. HOT helped 42 single households and 18 families obtain housing last year, according to its quarterly report. A shortage in affordable housing stock prevented HOT from helping more people connect to housing, the report said.
The draft 2024 budget allocates $1.1 million for land near Holcom Park so Tenants to Homeowners can build 40 new permanently affordable housing units. The Lawrence school board in May approved a bid of $1.2 million from Tenants to Homeowners to purchase the land.
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Recent city homelessness initiatives
The city currently has a Housing Initiatives Division, created last year under Planning and Development Services. But over the past several months, the city’s approach to homelessness has come under fire, perceived by some as inadequate and haphazard.
The city’s temporary campsite behind Johnny’s Tavern in North Lawrence has been the scene of multiple crimes, overdoses and deaths. Residents have expressed concerns about safety from before the city-sanctioned camp opened through present, including when the city completed a fence around the campsite that was intended to improve safety and monitoring.
In October 2022, about 100 local business leaders signed a petition asking the city to take more forceful action to deal with the homeless situation. “We are experiencing a crisis in and around our local businesses and the downtown business district,” the petition read. “The safety of our guests and our employees is a daily issue.”
In January, Jenn Wolsey resigned from her position as homeless programs coordinator after complaining about a lack of support from city leaders and protesting a short-lived plan to close the camp in North Lawrence. Although city officials said they would replace Wolsey, the position remains unfilled.
For several weeks after Wolsey’s departure, the camp was managed by one of its residents before city staff took over operations. Initially, camp residents felt that city staff members were just watching them and not actually helping with anything. Now the camp usually has around-the-clock staff, and it provides daily microwavable meals to camp residents.
Providing emergency sheltering and supportive camping enables service providers to access unsheltered people and provide case management and other services, the city says.
The city plans to open Pallet Shelter Village, which will place cabin-style shelters for about 75 people on North Michigan Street. Originally set to open in July, the village has been delayed until sometime in November, and the city received no bids for a provider to manage the village.
New department in the budget
Owens’ budget proposal does not include many details about how the Homeless Programs Department will differ from the status quo or what expectations the city has for it. The city will hire a dedicated director for the department, though no salary range or career qualifications were specified for the position.
“It has become clear, since last year’s budget process, that the homeless crisis affecting our city, and the nation, requires a dedicated operations department,” Laura McCabe, a spokesperson for the city, said via email.
According to Owens’ memo, a limited number of community partner requests for funding were approved in the new budget in order to allocate more money toward homeless programs. Owens did not specify which requests were denied.
The memo also notes a potential tax increase that would be available to the commission in the future but was not included in Owens’ 2024 budget proposal.
“A future consideration for the City of Lawrence is to increase the ‘affordable housing’ sales tax, which is currently .05 cents,” Owens’ memo to the commission states. “Approved by voters in 2017, this currently generates $1.3 million in revenue for housing initiatives. It has capacity to be increased to .1 cents.”
The 2024 draft budget keeps the mill levy flat; however, the total assessed valuation of properties in the city has increased by more than $106.5 million, and most property owners would still see tax increases.
“We anticipate the increase in value will generate approximately $3.58 million in new taxes,” Finance Director Jeremy Willmoth’s memo to the commission states.
See the full draft budget proposal at this link. See the full agenda for the Lawrence City Commission’s Tuesday meeting at this link.
The commission will begin its regular meeting at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, July 11 at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St. Meetings are also livestreamed on the city’s YouTube channel, youtube.com/lawrenceksvideo.
The commission accepts written public comment until noon the day of the meeting emailed to ccagendas@lawrenceks.org. Members of the public may also provide public comment in person during the meeting or virtually via Zoom. Register for the Zoom meeting at this link.
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Chansi Long (she/her) reported for The Lawrence Times from July 2022 through August 2023. Read more of her work for the Times here.
— Reporter Mackenzie Clark contributed to this article.
More coverage of housing and homelessness:
Molly Adams / Lawrence Times
Molly Adams / Lawrence Times
Latest Lawrence news:
August Rudisell/Lawrence Times
