Plans for what would have been the first around-the-clock homeless center for single adults in Johnson County came to an official end Thursday as county commissioners voted to terminate the contract to buy the La Quinta Inn and Suites and former Denny’s restaurant in Lenexa.
Commissioners also voted unanimously in a special meeting to end the contract with reStart Inc., the nonprofit that would have run the Homeless Services Center, and to ask county staff for a list of suggestions for spending the $6.3 million of federal COVID relief money that is now freed up.
The decision also spares the county from making the final $150,000 installment of earnest money on the property, due Friday, Sept. 20.
‘This is not the end’
Plans for the shelter, which would have included on-site mental health and job placement services, effectively ended earlier this week when the Lenexa City Council rejected reStart’s application for a special use permit to be able to operate the shelter in that part of the city.
Commission Chair Mike Kelly said after Thursday’s meeting that the commission’s actions were “bittersweet.”
“I think it was always going to be a bitter pill to swallow because a lot of people put in a lot of time, effort and heart into the idea of having the first 24/7 shelter in Johnson County for adults,” he said.
But Kelly and other commissioners renewed their resolve to continue to address the issue, despite their disappointment. During the meeting, Kelly compared the shelter’s defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs’ in the 2019 conference championship game. The Chiefs appeared set to win that game but lost possession and ultimately the game due to an offsides call.
“That was a really disheartening day, but I don’t think that season was a complete waste,” Kelly said. Instead, it set the foundation for many wins and Super Bowls to come. “You go for a foundation that can lead to something good. I think that’s what we’ve done here.”
Commissioner Jeff Meyers also made a football analogy. “When you get knocked down, you don’t stay down. You get back on your feet and you work toward solutions that are going to have a positive impact on the community. And that’s what I’m ready to do,” he said.
Commissioner Janeé Hanzlick agreed that despite the loss, the conversation about a homeless shelter has moved the issue forward “farther than it has ever been before. We will continue to work on this and continue to find solutions. This is not the end. It is the beginning of new opportunities.”
‘A stunning defeat’
Opponents of the project have spoken out against it for a variety of reasons, including its cost, fears that non-residents or undocumented immigrants would get help instead of county residents, and the fact that reStart had asked for operating funds from the cities and county. A few public commenters at the commission meeting also mentioned their preference for City Union Mission to run the shelter. City Union Mission is an evangelical Christian organization that aims to help poor and homeless people.
Commissioner Charlotte O’Hara, who has consistently opposed the shelter, repeated her views that the Lenexa project was poorly planned and the Lenexa vote was a “stunning defeat and a stunning message to the county commission that we did not do our upfront work,” by not getting buy-in from Lenexa officials.
Among the nine public commenters was Sheriff Calvin Hayden, who said he would submit a request for part of the leftover federal money to fund his office’s needs.
He also shared some thoughts on “redemption.” One part of redemption is trying to fix the mistake and “begging for forgiveness,” Hayden said. “That needs to happen.”
“I hope you guys learned you don’t shove anything at the cities and expect them to buy off. It takes a lot of work,” he said, continuing, “there’s not one person that’s here that doesn’t think we need to help our homeless population.” But he said the project could have been done better by a faith-based group. “Everything the government touches they screw it up.”
Hayden is serving the end of his term as sheriff after losing the Republican primary for this year’s election.
Some other commenters faulted Kelly for promoting the shelter and promoted Republican candidates in the upcoming elections. “But for (Kelly) the concept of a homeless shelter would have never been pursued by a government entity on the backs of Johnson County taxpayers,” said Jill O’Connor.
Debbie Detmer accused the commission of wasting time and money and “looking for resettlement areas for illegals in hopes of more Democratic votes.”
Ben Hobert of Westwood Hills has also been an opponent, but submitted a list of other ways to spend the money to help unhoused people, including a winter emergency shelter, portable showers and restroom pods and incentives to reduce teardowns of affordable housing.
Two members of The Good Faith Network, an interfaith group that has pushed for the shelter, shared their disappointment at Lenexa’s vote but pledged to keep working.
“We did everything we could to throw our weight behind this, and we’re very pleased when over 60% of… residents (speaking at the city council meeting) were in favor of it,” she said. “We are with you and will be with you in the next chapter as we push toward functional zero.” Functional zero is a statistic that means a community has measurably solved homelessness.
What happens next
The next step for commissioners is to find a way to spend the federal money that had been planned for the shelter. That money must be obligated by the end of this year and spent by the end of 2026. After a little haggling over wording and scope, commissioners voted to ask staff for some possibilities to discuss, with an eye toward housing solutions.
Go deeper: Read the full statement from County Commission Chair Mike Kelly
