How will homeless shelter be funded? Wichita could help, but with strings attached

The city of Wichita could help fund Second Light, the city’s homeless shelter operated by a non-profit – but with caveats.

At the center of a debate at a City Council workshop Tuesday was the number of beds at the shelter, and whether that was enough to enforce the city’s encampment ordinance. The ordinance requires that shelter beds be available before law enforcement can ticket someone for camping or disband an encampment.

Of the 130 beds at the shelter, 100 are set aside for people in Second Light’s Shelter+Services program, which offers a bed and services to eventually transition them into housing.

The remaining 30 beds are night-by-night beds, with six of those held for people who are dropped off by law enforcement.

Council members want more bed space so the city can enforce the camping ordinance.

“I want a contingent on our ability to enforce our anti-camping ordinance. Our role as government is not charity. Our goal is enforcement of laws and law enforcement,” council member Dalton Glasscock said.

The shelter had provided 170 beds, but after Wichita voters overwhelmingly rejected a 1% sales tax that would have set up an endowment to fund the shelter, among other things, it reduced its capacity because of funding concerns.

The shelter has estimated it needs about $4 million a year to operate.

When it opened, the shelter was funded through American Rescue Plan Act funds, but that money is set to run out in the fall.

Second Light has asked the city to contribute $5 million over the next three years, with $1 million to continue operations through the rest of 2026.

That funding would come from the city’s stabilization reserve fund, its rainy day fund.

“Programming beds are the way we move the needle in our community because it’s how we rehabilitate someone, how we stabilize them, and how we connect at the not just housing but then long term success in our community,” Second Light Executive Director Dan Clifford told the council Tuesday.

Clifford would not commit to expanding non-program beds at the shelter, and said further conversations would be needed to do so.

“I think we can agree in principle that we want to all move the needle on homelessness, but how we get there, there’s a lot of different philosophies, a lot of views,” Clifford said. “We just want to be clear about what those are and how we’re going to work well together effectively to move the needle on this issue, and if that means reducing unsheltered homelessness, I think Second Life can have a role there. But again, I just wanted to be thoughtful.”

Council member Mike Hoheisel, whose brother is a state representative, continued to push for the state Legislature to provide some funding for the city to address homelessness.

“We’re helping all Kansans here, and even beyond Kansas’ borders,” Hoheisel said, “but that is something that I hope they take into consideration in discussing policy and funding in the future.”

The city will have its first full budget presentation on July 14 with the council giving final approval on Aug. 25.