The first of December marked the beginning of the ninth winter of operations for Project 1020, Johnson County’s only low-barrier-to-entry homeless shelter.
“If I had 75 beds, they would all be filled and I’d still need more,” McEver said. “We’re easily seeing that many people here every night.”
McEver said the 30 beds Project 1020 is currently allowed by the city of Lenexa are simply not enough to meet the growing demand they are facing each day.
The shelter operates out of the Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church at 9400 Pflumm Rd.
She keeps extensive data and analyzes it for trends and hard truths, she said. One increase that keeps sticking out and weighing heavily on her is the increase in women looking for a place to sleep.
“The demand is surging, and we have seen an increase in our female occupants going from 27% last year to 38% this year,” McEver said. “There’s more new faces than ever.”
Last week, the Johnson County Board of Commissioners voted to approve the purchase of a Lenexa hotel to be converted into the county’s first and only year-round shelter and service center for those experiencing homelessness, a move that to local advocates could change the course of how homelessness is addressed in Johnson County.
The lack of space isn't a new phenomenon. When the Post spoke with Project 1020 last spring, their April 1 deadline to close until December was rapidly approaching.
Jim Schmidt and the other volunteers were busy getting the facility cleaned and ready to shutter for the next eight months. McEver was already discussing how inadequate the 30 beds were, and lamented that the space couldn’t be kept available year round to those in need.
There had also been some positive things to report from last winter.
The showers they had installed were working out very well, and they no longer had to transport people off site to get cleaned up. They had retained security (unarmed), whose presence was greatly appreciated by the overnight volunteers on site.
Fast forward to last week, McEver seemed unconvinced that the vote to approve a permanent county-run shelter would yield anything new on the matter, but she attended the county commission meeting.
She sat and listened as commissioners voted to her great surprise in favor of the deal to buy a La Quinta Inn & Suites only a mile from Project 1020 and convert it into a permanent homeless shelter, using up to $6 million in federal COVID-19 relief money to fund the purchase.
'High hopes' for year-round shelter
After the measure passed, the commission’s hearing room erupted into applause. Nearly a week later, McEver remains measured in her enthusiasm for what transpired.
“I’ve been hoping for so long that (Johnson County) can get a year-round shelter, so I’ve got really high hopes on where this is headed,” McEver said. “There’s just no sense of timetables right now, and I would think there will be lots of challenges. What’s the plan on how to convert the hotel? I’m not sure.”
For now, McEver is back to her usual winter routine: her days at the shelters start at 3:30 p.m. and end at 3:30 a.m. the next day.
She keeps busy through the night, never getting any time to rest and catch the tiniest bit of sleep. She doesn’t know when she’ll find the time to dwell on the meaning of last week’s vote and where things go from here.
She works on the assumption that Project 1020’s mission statement isn’t changing anytime soon.
“From everything I’ve heard, there will still be a need for Project 1020,” McEver said. “Will the hotel be converted into a low-barrier-to-entry shelter like [Project] 1020? I would hope it would provide services and not be looked at as a short term band-aid.”
Getting housed is just the beginning
Over the past four years, the growing majority of people Project 1020 serves are dealing with mental health issues, McEver said.
Many also are dealing with substance use issues, but she sees mental health challenges as the driver in local homelessness, creating even more need for comprehensive action.
“These people who experience homelessness — when they get housed, that’s just the beginning of their journey,” McEver said. “They need someone to walk along with them as their life is changing again — it’s a transition that they need help making.”
Buried in the data that she carefully collects is one piece of news that does lift McEvers spirits: donations and volunteer applications (collected at Project1020.org) have been trending upward.
“We moved to Johnson County from Bonner Springs in 1982 — we still see that so many people are so generous,” McEver said. “We couldn’t do this without them.”
This story was originally published in The Shawnee Mission Post.
