Wichita officer with Homeless Outreach Team helps ‘lost boy’ turn life around
20 June 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Warmer weather is bringing homeless people outside instead of staying in shelters. The Wichita Police Department’s (WPD) Homeless Outreach Team (H.O.T.) said it can be a challenge to manage.
A little over 700 people are homeless in Wichita and Sedgwick County, according to the recent point-in-time count from the United Way of the Plains.
Summer temperatures change the way people unhoused live and use services just like in the winter.
“Winter you have this buildup we have to worry about all these winter issues, and it is the same thing with summer now we are worried about dehydration, especially with people that use a lot of alcohol they are already dehydrated,” said United Methodist Open Door Homeless Services Director, Joshua Watkins.
“It’s warmer out, and they want to be by themselves, and you know, maybe they have mental health issues or substance abuse issues,” said WPD H.O.T. Officer Nate Schwiethale.
In the last two years, Officer Schwiethale said Wichita camps have doubled.
“You begin to wonder what is happening in Wichita, and I would say we are getting more calls about, ‘Hey, I saw someone out on the street corner,'” said Union Rescue Mission CEO Doug Nolte.
Last year, H.O.T. saw 144 campsite complaints.
“We are on target to hit over 300 this year,” said Officer Schwiethale.
When complaints are sent to the H.O.T. team, they have to make sure shelter is available.
There are legal challenges that come with removing camps.
“The last thing we want to do is put someone in jail just because they didn’t have a home, that is criminalizing homelessness, and we aren’t going to do that here,” said Officer Schwiethale.
The H.O.T. team works with local nonprofits to try and get people help.
“We are seeing probably more people than after the pandemic, especially subsidies have run out, or maybe they’ve had some extra help or maybe not been needing services because they’ve been able to stay in an existing location,” said Nolte.
Union Rescue Mission is lowering its capabilities for overnight shelter due to a remodel, but Nolte said it should only take about four to six months, and they hope to be open to more when colder months hit.
Despite an increase in a need for services, change is happening.
“They don’t see that the City with us, in conjunction with us, has housed 300 people since November. They don’t see that 32 people out of this facility hard chronically homeless people have been housed since January,” said Watkins.
Watkins said a new women’s clinic is also opening at Open Door in collaboration with ICT Street. The nonprofit works with multiple organizations to provide food, clothing, shelter, and other resources to those experiencing homelessness in the area.
The H.O.T. team and Open Door are working to provide more water for the hotter months to keep people hydrated.
Any campsites can be reported to the H.O.T. team here, they said it can take time to remove them or get them shelter.