Kansas City is enhancing its support system for the homeless community with a year-round low-barrier shelter initiative.
Kansas City announces a major milestone in addressing homelessness: the expansion of its cold weather emergency shelter system into a year-round, low-barrier emergency shelter network. Beginning March 1, 2025, this network of low barrier shelters will ensure continuous, accessible shelter options for individuals experiencing homelessness, filling a long-standing gap in services for Kansas City’s unhoused community.
Over the past three years, the City has worked with service provider partners to operate low-barrier emergency shelters during the coldest months. This collaboration, founded because of the City’s Zero KC strategic plan to end homelessness, served to strengthen operator capacity, standardize intake and care protocols, and improve data collection through a shared software system-allowing shelters across multiple locations to maintain services beyond the winter months.
Timeline:
March-April 2025: Contracts and locations are finalized for 100 shelter beds.
Summer 2025: Expansion to 160 beds for increased capacity.
Fall 2025: Ramp-up of services for cold weather, following the established winter shelter model.
Shelter Locations:
Restart
True Light
Open Doors
Heartland Center for Behavioral Change
These service providers are well-known within the unhoused community and are situated near other essential service providers in Kansas City.
“Kansas City is committed to ensuring those experiencing homelessness have shelter and a safe place to sleep. These low-barrier bed spaces available to all regardless of circumstances will establish a sustainable system and pathway to permanent housing for those most vulnerable in our community,” said Mayor Quinton Lucas. “We will continue to implement effective and compassionate solutions for our unhoused neighbors to make sure that absolutely no one falls through the cracks.”
“We are deeply grateful to our shelter operators, service providers, and community partners who have played a critical role in making this transition possible,” said City Manager Brian Platt. “This is a testament to what we can achieve when we work together toward a shared vision of housing stability for all.”
For more information on Kansas City’s efforts to address homelessness, visit kcmo.gov/housing.
Media with questions may contact media@kcmo.org or Sherae Honeycutt, Press Secretary of Kansas City at Sherae.Honeycutt@kcmo.org.
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