Homelessness is rising in Kansas City and across the country. But Mandy Chapman Semple, a homelessness system expert who will speak at the Kansas City Public Library next week, knows a solution.
Chapman Semple developed Houston's successful strategy to combat homelessness. She says regional collaboration between the government and Houston's faith, civic and philanthropic communities was a crucial first step to the city's success.
"Each of those entities could contribute both their resources and their leadership, and that together, we could build the system that we were imagining," Chapman Semple told KCUR's Up To Date. "That's exactly what we did, and what continues to organize and hold Houston's progress today."
In January, shelter leaders in Kansas City told KCUR they wished for more regional collaboration.
Combined with investment in a "housing-first" strategy against homelessness, Chapman Semple's programs resulted in Houston logging a more than 60% decrease in homelessness over four years.
Chapman Semple will speak at the KCPL Central Library on May 6.
- Mandy Chapman Semple, nationally-recognized homeless system expert
