Members of the Wichita community met Wednesday night at the Advanced Learning Library to discuss Wichita’s growing rate of people living on the streets. City Council member J.V. Johnston, who’s been working on the city’s homeless task force, said that it’s the goal of the city to achieve functional zero homelessness, meaning there are more people coming out of living on the streets than going in. “I think if we all work hard and all the agencies collaborate and work together, city and county and nonprofits all work together, including the business community, we can achieve it,” Johnston said. Sedgwick County’s COMCARE program says a recent count shows 702 homeless people in the area. “One of the easiest answers in our facilities where we can provide wraparound services, and we can provide a housing first approach, right? The data is out there, the information is out there, I encourage you to go out and understand better those two philosophies,” said Assistant City Manager Troy Anderson. However, some at the town hall expressed concern about Wichita spending money on different services to help and outside studies, and spoke in favor of keeping the money in Wichita to directly benefit the unhoused. “It’s passing the buck in a giant circle,” remarked one community member. “If you want results, you have to have accountability. And you cannot have accountability if you diffuse it into a zillion entities.” At the end of the event, Mayor Lily Wu said she was encouraged by the large turnout, and hopes to have more meeting on how to get to the city’s goal in the coming months.
Source: KAKE – News
