20 March 2024
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – Wichita’s temporary winter shelter will close its doors on March 31 for the final time. City leaders have already said that the 21st and Grove location is not permanent.
This past year, the temporary shelter was late getting off the ground as local leaders tried to secure a location.
Wichita’s mayor says the City is close but not ready to discuss the next steps for the upcoming winter. However, a county commissioner confirmed the next emergency winter shelter would not be returning to 21st and Grove.
Sedgwick County Commissioner Ryan Baty says their goal is to ensure the winter emergency shelter opens on time this coming winter.
“We’ll make sure that when winter rolls around again, come November, we’ll be better prepared this go around,” he said.
Baty says it will no longer be located at 21st and Grove, adding that the city-owned building will be used for something else.
“They have plans for that building moving forward. So, that current emergency winter shelter will not be used for the same purpose next year, so it will go to another location,” he said.
Baty says he would like the temporary shelter to be located at the new multi-agency center (MAC). The city’s $80 million plan is to provide multiple resources for unhoused people at one facility, but he believes they have other choices if it is not up and ready by the Nov. 1 deadline.
“Ideally, the MAC will get off the ground, and we’ll be able to host the emergency winter shelter at the MAC next year, but even if that isn’t if we’re still in construction, or if the city hasn’t decided on a permanent location by that point in time, there are going to be some options,” said Baty.
Brie Ireton is HumanKind Ministries’ program manager for the temporary winter shelter. She says they’ve had over 1,000 unique individuals this season at the shelter, adding that having mental health resources directly available was this year’s biggest win.
“Being able to have those individuals out on site and ready to work with those, that we’re serving, while they’re there in the shelter, without having to go to another facility was a huge success, and a lot of our clients really used that,” said Ireton.
She says despite initial concerns from the neighborhood, meetings every other week with community members have helped them to address concerns.
Ireton also says that a resource fair the day after the shelter closes would allow organizations to stay connected to the up to 250 unhoused people leaving the shelter.
“We should get together and be there for them and make sure that we stay with them as the shelter closes, but their journey continues,” she said.
Two locations are being considered for the multi-agency center: the old Riverside hospital and HumanKind’s downtown campus.
HumanKind would not comment on what how their operations would change if their location was picked for the MAC. Ireton did say that HumanKind is waiting for the City to put out a request for a proposal for the next emergency shelter and they plan on being heavily involved in the process moving toward this winter.