homelessness

Advocates for people who are homeless say eliminating the credit will mean it's harder to find affordable places to live. Lawmakers say when they passed the tax credits in 2022, they didn’t realize how much they would cost.

Since 2012, homelessness in Houston has decreased more than 60%. As Kansas City continues its own efforts, the woman who developed Houston's strategy will speak at the Kansas City Public Library next week.

Critics of the affordable housing tax credit argue it is costing Kansas too much money. But supporters say it's helping construct new homes amid a housing shortage that’s driving up the costs of homes and contributing to homelessness.

Staffers at Care Beyond the Boulevard mobile health clinic ramped up operations to help fill the gap left from the sudden closure of a Kansas City, Kansas health clinic that mostly served unhoused and uninsured patients.

The city of Lenexa will now allow Project 1020 to accept up to 50 people per night. The organization said it's been “overwhelmed” by demand for shelter and had to turn away people during Kansas City's recent winter storms.

Each year, volunteers venture out nationwide on a single night for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s point-in-time count in an effort to tally the country’s homeless population. Rural volunteers say they rely on the count to aid their unhoused populations. Meanwhile, experts say HUD may be undercounting.

One night last month, volunteers ventured out in Missouri to try to tally the state's homeless population. It's an incredibly important but flawed system that is especially difficult in rural areas. Plus: A shortage of attorneys in Kansas is so bad that it could lead to courts dismissing criminal cases.

Persistent cold this month has meant more unhoused people in the Kansas City area have needed warm, safe places to spend the night. But neither Johnson or Wyandotte counties have enough beds, and consistently have to turn people away.

Hundreds of unhoused people in Kansas City have been sleeping outside, even in the recent frigid temperatures. We asked them to explain — in their own words — why. Plus: sports betting will soon be available in Missouri, but public health experts worry about the effect online betting will have on gamblers' mental health.

Shelters that are at capacity have been adding beds to accommodate overflow guests as freezing temperatures remain throughout the metro. But for many, restrictions like pets, a lack of transportation or mental illness deny them access to those beds.

A Wellness Court opened this month within Kansas City's Municipal Court, replacing the separate mental health and drug courts. The new approach offers a unique focus on co-occurring issues and lowers the barriers for people to get help.

As sleet and snow began falling, volunteers at Project 1020, Johnson County’s only emergency cold-weather shelter, made sure unhoused residents weren’t caught in the life-threatening cold. Unlike other county organizations, the shelter operated around the clock for several days straight.