With one of the Nation’s Highest Rates of Unsheltered Homelessness, the City Is Rapidly Expanding Shelter Beds
Kansas City, Missouri, has the highest percentage of unsheltered homeless people per capita of anywhere in the country. The figure refers not to the total number of unhoused people in the city, but to those living outside without a proper roof over their heads.
Current estimates put the number of households living unsheltered at around 4,000 in a city of just over 500,000. According to HUD figures from 2023, 95.7% of chronically homeless individuals in the city were unsheltered. That is a shocking number, and city officials have recently been rushing to tackle this problem.
For now, their approach is focusing on more short-term solutions. The city is concentrating all its efforts and resources on creating more temporary shelter beds, which are a quick fix to an urgent problem but may leave people stuck in the long run.
Shelter Beds Have Been Tripled
Not too long ago, Kansas City had just 360 low-barrier shelter beds available. That number has now increased to 491, with an additional 440 beds available through community partnerships that may come with more rules and requirements.
It may be a long way from shelter for all 4,000+ people who need it, and a longer way still from permanent housing for those people, but it still means that nearly 600 more people have a place indoors to lay their heads at night. For those 600, that makes a big difference.
Although encampments are the subject of much public comment and complaints from the housed population of Kansas City, eliminating them completely is not a stated goal. In fact, KC’s official plan to address homelessness specifically states that, “implementing an effective homeless response strategy does not mean there will no longer be individuals living on the street; it means there are resources available to house those individuals when appropriate.”
KC Aware Longer-Term Solutions Are Necessary, Too
As the city scrambles to make more shelter beds available as quickly as it can, its plans for the future include longer-term solutions, too. Emergency shelter is not the same as housing. However, it may be a necessary stopgap to prevent loss of life while more permanent solutions are put in place. There must be sufficient follow-through to complete both the permanent solutions and the temporary measures.
In its published plan to tackle homelessness, Zero KC states:
“A safe, stable, and affordable home is one of the most basic needs for any individual or family. While longer-term solutions are necessary, the current lack of quality affordable and supportive housing in Kansas City cannot keep us from taking action that can save lives!”
At a time when future federal funding for homelessness alleviation is perhaps more uncertain than ever, this position may prove prudent. On the other hand, there is an argument to be made that the likelihood of future volatility is even more of a reason to take big swings now in case you lose the ability to later.
The ZeroKC Plan
Kansas City’s overarching plan to tackle its homelessness problem is guided by the framework of the following five priorities:
- Encampment Strategy that Promotes Health, Safety, and Quality of Life for All, and Quickly Re-House Individuals Who Live Unsheltered
- Increase Affordable Housing Stock and Focus on Housing Stability
- Invest in Equitable, Evidence-Informed Housing Solutions and High-Quality Wrap-Around Services
- Examine the Needs of Marginalized Groups and Underserved Populations
- Maximize Funding Opportunities and Implement Creative Solution
In simple terms, these priorities are often rephrased for the general public as:
- Living outside is dangerous
- Kansas City needs more housing
- Wrap-around services are critical
- One size does not fit all
- Solving homelessness requires investment
The end goal of this program is to ensure that homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurring, and that housing is affordable, accessible, and sustainable for all.
Hold Outs for Housing First
Although Housing First has come under fire recently as Trump’s White House pushes against it, Kansas City officials have remained stalwart supporters of the proven strategy. ZeroKC holds up low-barrier shelters as the gold standard, though in practice, compromises may be needed to make the most beds available to the most people.
Joshua Henges, Houseless Prevention Coordinator in the Housing and Community Development Department, has emphasized that Housing First does not mean Housing Only, saying, “We believe housing is amazing, but housing with health care is the way to actually address chronic homelessness” and calling homelessness, “the most solvable problem America has chosen not to solve.”
Currently, Kansas City has a deficit of 27,563 affordable, available units for its lowest-income residents. Several opportunities to reduce this deficit have been identified in the report, including federal funding programs, sales tax revenues, and private philanthropy. Priority 2 also includes provisions for keeping people housed and protected from unfair evictions and other common causes of homelessness.
The ZeroKC report explicitly states that, “All people deserve the right to choose the most appropriate housing to meet their needs. Strategies to prevent and end homelessness must focus on creating an array of housing opportunities to meet the multi-faceted and complex needs of the unique and diverse population Kansas City is known for and prides itself upon.”
Hoping for the Best
It is encouraging to see that local governments are still willing to use evidence-based approaches to house their neighbors, even when those methods are being vilified for political reasons. It is clear that the people in Kansas City who have drawn up this plan to prioritize temporary shelter have done so with thoughtful care, and I hope it works out well for everyone involved. While it’s all well and good for writers to be idealistic and focused on the bigger picture, for politicians, it may pay to be practical.