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City of Lawrence desperate for winter shelter volunteers
The city is in desperate need of help from volunteers to keep winter emergency shelters open amid extreme cold.
The city is in desperate need of help from volunteers to keep winter emergency shelters open amid extreme cold.
Update: First United Methodist Church in downtown Lawrence opened its doors for overnight emergency shelter, and the University Community of Christ will open at 10 a.m. Sunday as a day shelter.
With the possibility of severe weather looming, the Lawrence Community Shelter, city and volunteers are preparing to ensure everyone who needs a warm place to sleep will have one.
The City of Lawrence is doling out $1.2 million from its sales tax coffers for affordable housing and housing-adjacent projects. New this year will be a community educator to help renters learn their rights.
Home and rental prices have skyrocketed in recent years because of a housing shortage. That’s leading to a rise in homelessness and could be hurting the economy.
Many of the people who previously lived behind the Amtrak station in East Lawrence did not anticipate that they’d have to leave the property where they recently moved within two months.
Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday will consider adding about $757,000 to its 2024 agreement with the Lawrence Community Shelter for LCS to construct new Pallet shelters, fix up the Monarch Village and purchase “amnesty lockers.”
Law enforcement officials say arresting people who are unhoused for minor crimes like trespassing and vandalism will not help reduce homelessness. Experts say it will cost a lot of tax dollars and actually makes homelessness worse.
Dozens of community members gathered to celebrate the completion of Mt. Hope Shelter, a new shelter that will aim to help families stabilize as they seek permanent housing.
With years of housing insecurity and discrimination behind her, Christina Gentry is now chair of Lawrence’s Affordable Housing Advisory Board. In that role and other capacities, she strives to help folks who are now in the same space she was in not too long ago.
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