The City of Kansas City, Missouri is doing more right now to provide for the needs of those experiencing homelessness than we have at any time in the past and more than most other similar-sized cities.

Watch this video and learn more.

We are providing immediate help for urgent needs, developing long-term programs, changing policies and supporting initiatives that prevent homelessness and increase affordable housing.

Here are some of the programs and services we have provided so far:

• Finalizing a city policy detailing processes helping unhoused persons relocate from encampments to safe facilities with supportive services.
• Enacting an extreme weather plan that activates when the daytime high is below 32 degrees or the overnight low is less than 20 degrees.
• Allocated $12.5 million to the City’s affordable housing trust fund that will incentivize the creation of affordable housing units and other housing options within larger otherwise market-rate multifamily development projects.
• Distributed $16 million in emergency rental assistance funds to nearly 4,000 households in Kansas City.
• The City passed a Right to Counsel policy to guarantee every KCMO tenant has legal representation, funded by the City, in a landlord-tenant case.
• Invested $400,000 to support the Navigation Center, operated by Lotus Care House. City funding has helped the operation expand its capacity with 39 rooms inside a former east side hotel. It is fully functional, serving the unhoused community and providing supportive services.  
• The City is providing 70 personal 'Heart Carts' (storage carts) for the unhoused to use and the Downtown Council is providing a secure facility for cart storage. This resource is part of the city’s Extreme Weather Activation Plan. The hope is that more people will be inclined to seek shelter during extreme weather if they know that their personal belongings will be protected.
• We housed nearly 400 people in hotels to provide a warm, safe place to stay rather than a tent on the streets. This was an emergency 90-day program with social services provided onsite through the support of many partner agencies.
• The City Council has established an Unhoused Task Force that includes members of the unhoused community and other stakeholders, all at the same table with councilmembers to develop long term policies. 
• The City Council has approved a policy change that requires developers who receive incentives for apartment projects to include affordable housing units or offset the lack of affordable units by paying into the housing trust fund.
• The City Council has committed millions of dollars in American Rescue Plan funds to the housing trust fund to create more affordable housing for those impacted by the pandemic's economic hardships.
• The City invested $8.5 million in 2021 to serve those experiencing homelessness, using COVID relief funding (and our normally budgeted funds) to help those thrown into poverty due to the pandemic and loss of jobs. The funding supports community organizations that provide housing, emergency shelter, outreach, counseling, rent and utility assistance and other services to KCMO residents.
• To prevent homelessness, an additional $14.8 million in federal relief is now available to tenants through several community organizations. Go to KCMO.gov/renthelp for more info, an online application and the list of agencies to call for immediate help.
• We created a new, stand-alone Housing Department to focus on tenant advocacy, unhoused solutions, affordable housing and community development.
• The Land Bank of KCMO will be selling vacant lots and abandoned homes for $1 to organizations that can renovate them and then rent to those experiencing homelessness or those in the lowest income brackets.
• We will build hundreds of affordable housing units as part of the Barney Allis Plaza renovation in downtown Kansas City.
• During January/February 2021, the Bartle Hall Warming Center provided a safe, warm place to stay for an average of 307 people nightly during the worst two months of the winter.
• The Cold Weather Family Housing Program provided rapid re-housing at a secure site for families that lost their homes due to loss of jobs in the pandemic. The program ran from January-May 2021 and served dozens of families.