KC’s homeless shelter eliminates daily lines for beds

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FangKC
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KC’s homeless shelter eliminates daily lines for beds

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A new start for KC’s homeless as shelter eliminates daily lines for beds
“Home for Good” fits into a bigger initiative launched over the last three years by reStart and its social service partners aimed at getting people off the streets and into affordable, long-term housing. Customized mental health, life skills and job counseling services are provided as needed.

It’s a radical departure from the emergency overnight model that had been used across the country for a generation. The idea was to give people a free place to sleep and a meal but to kick them out during the day, hoping they would rebuild their lives. Instead, they might just go panhandling.

Now the concept is to get at the root of the problem that’s landed them on the street in the first place — mental illness, substance abuse, family conflicts or difficulties holding a job — and try to solve that problem one client at a time.

It sounds pricey, but Craig said it’s actually a better use of tax dollars and philanthropic donations than the old shelter model because it gives people a grounding that puts them on the path to self-sufficiency. Besides, many of the clients have income or disability or veterans benefits that they could have been applying to housing but weren’t.
http://www.kansascity.com/2013/11/13/46 ... eless.html
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Downtown Homeless Shelter On Brink of Closure

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Downtown Homeless Shelter On Brink of Closure

reStart Seeks Bailout for 90-Bed Facility
...
But an even bigger crisis is brewing in Kansas City, Missouri, involving a year-round facility that has three times as many beds as the one in Lenexa.

Working to dig itself out of a gaping financial hole, the nonprofit homeless services agency, reStart, is phasing out the 90-bed shelter for single adults it operates just east of downtown, at 918 E. Ninth St.
...
The reStart shelter is unmatched by any other facility in the region for many reasons, beginning with the fact that it is open around the clock. Many other options close during the day, which is of little help, for instance, to someone who needs to sleep after working overnight.

The faith-based missions of other shelters also can turn off members of the LGBTQ community, which reStart makes a point of welcoming, along with people with HIV/AIDS. The reStart program is also designed to help people get back on their feet, so it has an average stay of about three months.

And finally, in serving single adults, reStart shelters a demographic that does not pull at the heartstrings of donors like families with children, victims of domestic violence, or veterans, making it that much tougher to provide an adequate number of beds for this population.
...
https://www.flatlandkc.org/news-issues/ ... y-restart/
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