Service leaders on KC homelessness: ‘We can and will find a better way'
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In 2023, about 96% of people experiencing chronic homelessness in Kansas City were unsheltered – the worst rate of any major US city.
That number comes from the 2023 HUD report, its 2024 report shows only state data. In Missouri, there was a 9% increase in people experiencing homelessness from 2023 to 2024.
In Kansas City, there are residents experiencing the issue firsthand, and others who are working to resolve it. Alleyways off Independence Avenue is in an area that's become notorious for homeless encampments.
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The urban street ambassadors spend their days on Independence Ave. with the Community Improvement District. They're contracted by the city to clean more than a dozen alleyways in the corridor.
'I am coming out here to let everyone know if you need resources, Healing House will be down here to talk to you guys, but we got to clean out the alley,' Laura Birdsong, the team resource manager, said to some people living in the alley.
One of the people she was talking to, she was surprised to see.
'The last time we cleaned up that alleyway, we actually helped him get his belongings to an apartment he thought he was going to be getting,' she said.
'Something fell through for him.'
That's just one person's story on the avenue.
'There's got to be a commitment on all sides,' said Josh Henges, the Prevention Coordinator for the city.
'What's happening in the Northeast is a combination of a lot of things. You've got a high level of substance use. You've got a lot of human trafficking, and that makes it very difficult who are experiencing homelessness to get off the street, who are entangled in that.'
Henges believes that to solve homelessness, intervention is needed to help address crime and other physical and mental health issues. Plus, the creation of more affordable housing.
'You've got to have folks working boots on the ground with this population, and you have to have a place for them to go,' he said.
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At Restart, one of KC's largest homeless service providers, CEO Stephanie Boyer says people are connected with a case manager. Even when some get into safer housing, hundreds more are waiting.
'We have a need for 26 thousand units for people in a low-income category,' she said.
'We've seen families renting storage units and living in them, renting U-Haul trucks, literally living and sleeping in the back of it, because it's cheaper to rent either of those options for a week than it is a hotel or to be able to try and find housing.'
While day shelters and free meals provide temporary relief, it's not producing long term solutions.
'It's going to take the political will, and it's going to have to be a public-private partnership in order to get to where we need to be, or what you're seeing on the streets here will only continue to get worse,' said Boyer.
Birdsong said that people are will to help, and that sometimes the help is received. Like the man from earlier, who was able to sleep somewhere safe that night.
'My promise to everybody is just that we can and we will find a better way, you just have to be willing, and until that time we are going to have an understanding of how we are going to coexist out here,' she said.
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She also says that sometimes people might not see the need right away, or may have other barriers stopping them from accessing resources.
No matter the reason, compassion never hurts.
Henges said it was a goal this year to have year-round sheltered beds. In the past, they've only had beds during winter. However, as of May 1, 125 beds were made available, all of which were immediately filled.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Newsom fired back at Trump, border czar Homan California Governor Gavin Newsom fired back after President Trump hinted border czar Homan should arrest him if he interfered in ICE raids. 700 Marines heading to LA for riot assistance; Newsom calls move 'deranged fantasy' of Trump Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a House committee Tuesday the United States was entering a new phase in which the National Guard would "become a critical component of how we secure that homeland." "The National Guard is a huge component of how we see the future," he told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. Bryn MacDonnell, a special assistant to the secretary of defense, said the Pentagon is spending $134 million of deploying 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines. 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"It is not lost on us that no such show of force was deployed in advance of the January 6 insurrection at our nation's capital despite the clear threat to democracy. The contrast is alarming," leaders wrote in a statement released Monday night. 'Peaceful protesters in Los Angeles are met with military presence, while violent actors in Washington, D.C. were allowed to breach the heart of our government with little resistance. This inconsistency amplifies questions about how power is used and against whom." The right to protest the Trump administration's "unjust policies targeting Black and Brown communities must be protected," they wrote. The groups include the NAACP, the National Urban League, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, the National Action Network, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Leadership Conference, the National Council of Negro Women and the Legal Defense Fund. 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The Committee to Protect Journalists has sounded the alarm over the incidents, warning against the intimidation of journalists. 'Any attempt to discourage or silence media coverage by intimidating or injuring journalists should not be tolerated,' Katherine Jacobsen, program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean, said in a statement. 'It is incumbent upon authorities to respect the media's role of documenting issues of public interest.' National Press Club President Mike Balsamo warned that law enforcement "cannot pick and choose when the First Amendment applies. Journalists in Los Angeles were not caught in the crossfire — they were targeted. " -Jeanine Santucci Multiple journalists injured by police nonlethal rounds while covering LA protests Police briefly detained CNN correspondent Jason Carroll while on air Monday night during the network's coverage of the protests. CNN was covering the protests live when in-studio anchors briefly lost contact with Carroll, who could be seen being led away from the protests by LAPD officers with his hands behind his back. Carroll returned to the mic, informing the anchors: "I am being detained." An officer then can be heard telling Carroll: "We're letting you go. You can't come back. If you come back, you will be arrested." CNN issued a statement saying "we are pleased the situation resolved quickly once the reporting team presented law enforcement with their CNN credentials. CNN will continue to report out the news unfolding in Los Angeles." Read more here. − Taijuan Moorman On Monday, California sued the Trump administration, alleging that the president's deployment of Guard troops was unnecessary and unlawful. Newsom later indicated that he will take similar action to prevent the Marines from being deployed, describing the order as a "blatant abuse of power." "It makes me feel like our city is actually a test case," Bass said at a news conference. "A test case for what happens when the federal government moves in and takes the authority away from the state or away from local government." 'I hate it': LA residents who surveyed vandalism fear more violence in future protests Some day laborers and other community members in Los Angeles County are warily watching federal troops, bracing for more raids and trying to look to the future while looking out for each other. Some are still searching for detained family members. Some say they've seen worse. Jose Luis Valencia, 54, is an undocumented immigrant who was born in the Tepito neighborhood of Mexico City. This week he was looking for work outside a Home Depot in Los Angeles County. "We're a little nervous, but we're here looking for work to survive," Valencia told USA TODAY. "We need money to put food on the table and support our family." Read more here. − Pamela Avila and Trevor Hughes The California governor, in a post to social media blasting Trump's decision to send the military members to California, said Marines are 'not political pawns." Newsom said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was 'illegally' deploying the Marines and argued it was a stunt so Trump could have a 'talking point' at a planned parade in Washington on Saturday to celebrate the 250th birthday of the Army, also the day of Trump's 79th birthday. "The Courts and Congress must act. Checks and balances are crumbling," Newsom added. -Jeanine Santucci Officials at the Los Angeles Police Department said Monday that despite violent demonstrations, local police can handle whatever protesters throw at them and that federal help is unnecessary and could become a hindrance. 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The protests had largely been peaceful but flared up when heavily armed, masked agents raided Los Angeles businesses. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, defended the raids and said those arrested by ICE included a Vietnamese man convicted of second-degree murder, an Ecuadoran man convicted of possession of five kilograms of cocaine, and a Filipino man convicted of sexual offenses. On Monday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said local immigrant rights groups had confirmed at least five ICE raids in the Los Angeles region. The mayor said officials were still working to compile more information on the raids but noted that in some cases, ICE targeted day laborers and detained people who appeared for scheduled immigration appointments. "As you know, ICE does not tell anybody where they're going to go or when they're going to be there," Bass said at the Monday news conference. Protests also sprang up in at least nine other cities across the U.S. on Monday, including New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, according to Reuters. Protests in Los Angeles were relatively peaceful when they began on Friday, but escalated into scenes of chaos, with electric vehicles lit aflame, large clouds of tear gas and clashes between law enforcement and demonstrators. Trump has backed his move to send in troops, calling the protests 'violent, insurrectionist mobs' and 'lawless riots.' But Newsom said it was Trump who 'instigated violence.' Experts say while there are legal definitions for a riot, the term has become increasingly politicized and encapsulates a wide variety of incidents. In most states including California, the key determinator lies in whether multiple people are involved and whether they are committing acts of violence, Brian Higgins, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said. "One person is not a riot and neither is a group that is nonviolent," he said. "They can even be breaking the law, like refusing to disperse. It's when you add in the factor of violence that it becomes a riot." There are some gray areas, he said. Experts also said that while violence is a defining factor in a riot, such violence could be incited by law enforcement. Read more. Contributing: Jeanine Santucci and Phaedra Trethan, USA TODAY; Reuters
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13 hours ago
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