Kudos to the Wichita City Council, which voted unanimously Tuesday to endorse a plan by the city-county Taskforce to End Chronic Homelessness that would create a new downtown homeless resource center as well as a “housing first†program.
Interim City Manager Ed Flentje called it a “moderate†plan and said the city, having created the homeless task force, “has some obligation to move this forward.â€
“This is a true commitment,†said Mayor Carl Brewer, noting that the action calls on city staff to work with Sedgwick County officials to develop a funding plan.
It’s encouraging that the city already has committed $60,000 in community development block grants to fund a staff position for the housing program.
No one is asking local government to foot the entire bill for the homelessness fight — but city and county officials need to do their fair share. Council member Jeff Longwell rightly said that “we’re going to see a cost benefit to tackling this problem.â€
14 Comments
BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME!!!!!!!!!!
How many coats, shoes and meals would that $60,000 buy?
Gotta love government. Their idea of “help” is to create a high dollar staff position…
Jeff Longwell where is your proof that this will save the city dollars? Do you have a study to share with the people of Wichita?
No you don’t! This is another feel good for city council members to spend money that is not out of their pockets.
Jeff Longwell is a tax and spend liberal and he needs to be put out of office.
” but city and county officials need to do their fair share”
Funny, I didn’t realize the city or county had their own money to do their fair share.
Silly me, I thought they could only commit taxpayers money to spending. And we sure were not asked to provide charity via the government.
Guess I should tell my preacher I won’t be filling his basket any longer. The government is going to do God’s work for him.
Our local government has in fact created a brand new entitlement program. Another stream of our money going into a bottomless pit. Forever. And the new director will need a secratary…..
BTW, better check the useage of federal CDBG funds - there are strict requirements on using this money. And when the federal pot runs dry, the CDBG program will be gone, and local taxpayers will foot the bill. Like the cops on the street program, GREAT, DARE. The local communities end up paying for these programs that do not end - when the feds step out.
What Randy is REALLY saying is the city and county should force the TAXPAYERS to do what he believes is OUR fair share.
Typical liberal spending other peoples money.
God may strike me dead for this, but I’m sick of the way downdown Wichita has been turned into a refuge for the drunks, drug addicts, and mentally ill who need real services…not just feel good stuff that enables them to survive on the street. Property values have gone down since the homeless shelters, food pantries, halfway houses, etc started and landlords who own midtown properties can’t get decent renters because no one wants to live in that neighborhood anymore. It’s filled with drug dealing, prostitution, transients, sexual predators, paroles, and all sorts of characters no decent family would want to raise their kids around. It’s ruined what could be a great neighborhood that has many wonderful old houses and a rich history. It’s really sad.
Yep Mary, it’s a problem all over the U.S.
No one has come up with a good “complete” solution either.
I remember my parents and grandparents pointing out parts of Wichita to me where they lived and worked.
Now days, one doesn’t want to even travel through those sections unless they are in a car with locked doors and no stopping.
Geez Keny
When you die they are going to have to screw you into the ground.
In bush’s America, anyone of us could be homeless on very little notice.
$60,000 to employ 1 person.
That should reduce the homeless population.
By one.
Feed them and make them dependent on Government for life. Or teach them how to survive on their own.
F It. Just feed em. We want The People to be dependent on Government. That’s the only way to achieve supreme power over The People.
I wouldn’t go that far, JR…I’ve been around lots of homeless people, and all of them have a habit of making one diasterous decision after another. If you go downtown, it’s not the people who have been layed off from their jobs that are homeless…it’s the drunks, drug addicts, and the mentally ill. And they stay homeless because they can. The more enabling our society becomes, the more people will be enabled to maintain their dysfuctional lifestyles.
Well
There’s SO much empty shelter in Wichita, I think it is criminal that anyone has to be homeless.
F It. Just feed em. We want The People to be dependent on Government. That’s the only way to achieve supreme power over The People.
yeah.
Because starving them and letting them freeze just works out so well…
Max = scroll over territory
No one HAS to be homeless, JR….they often choose to be because they don’t want to abide by the rules that the shelters and programs expect people to abide by.
We’d have a lot less homeless if the mentally ill were forced to get treatment like they used to and if drug and alcohol abuse weren’t so rampant. Those are the underlying causes to homelessness…not people losing their jobs.
People who are smart enough to stay away from addictive behaviors, who care enough to get an education, who put thought and effort into their future, and who make responsible decisions don’t end up homeless. When society starts to hold those who have the ability to make good choices responsible for the choices they make and starts to take real responsiblity for those who can’t make good choices through no fault of their own, then we’ll have fewer homeless Americans.
Sorry to say it Mary.
You DO do good work.
But then there is where YOU live and who are YOUR neighbors.
As much as I hate to say it Mary. I think you are a Republican. Or at least that is where your best interests are.
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