$420K COVID grant will aid purchase of hotel for domestic violence shelter in Wichita
Money from a federal COVID-19 grant will be used to help the Wichita Family Crisis Center buy a hotel and transform it into a shelter for victims of domestic abuse.
The City Council on Tuesday approved spending $420,000 from the city’s CARES Act money to complete the purchase of the hotel. The council earlier approved $800,000 for the project.
Following the approval of the funding, the center’s executive director, Amanda Meyers and about a dozen staff and supporters celebrated in the hallway outside the council chambers.
“Truly, we are over the moon,” Meyers said. “It was so needed for so long.”
The Family Crisis Center has only been able to provide about eight safe bedrooms for domestic abuse victims and families. The center used to be able to house more people, but the COVID crisis reduced capacity as clients had to be spread out more to reduce transmission of the coronavirus.
“This new facility will triple our capacity and we won’t have to put people in hotels all over the city or move them to Florida,” she said.
Council members said they were glad the money can be used for an ongoing improvement that will benefit the community for years to come rather than one-time expenses from the pandemic.
“It’s a unique circumstance, because of COVID, that we’re able to have this item today and be able to consider this option,” said council member Bryan Frye.
Council member Cindy Claycomb, who serves on the crisis center board, attended the meeting by phone and voted in favor of the funding.
The total cost of the project is $6.2 million, $3.7 million for the hotel and $2.5 million to renovate it with as many as 24 shelter rooms, common areas, meeting rooms and office and laundry space.
Each unit will have its own bathroom, a very big deal, Meyers said.
“You know, right now we only have two bathrooms for 27 people,” she said.
She said the new shelter will also allow for more one-to-one counseling for victims, especially children.
The Crisis Center has raised nearly $3 million in cash and pledges and has preliminary approval to borrow the remaining $3.2 million to complete the project.
The name of the hotel that will become a shelter is being kept confidential. Wichita Eagle policy is not to reveal the locations of domestic violence shelters, for the safety of the people who go there fleeing violence at home.
Meyers concedes that it’s a tough secret to keep when a hotel is converted to a shelter, but other safeguards will also be in place to protect the victims from their abusers.
“We do the best that we can (to maintain confidentiality), but we’ve studied a lot of newer shelters in other communities and what they’re moving toward is greater security in lieu of the confidentiality,” Meyers said. “It’s hard to keep confidential with social media and phones and find-my-phone in a way that it wasn’t in the 70s. So these days we’ll be building a big old fence, lots of gates, lots of door locks and fobs and that will provide the security.”
