Around 2,600 Kansans are experiencing homelessness on any given day, one survey estimates. Lawmakers tasked with reducing this number will decide whether a $40 million fund is the best way to provide support for struggling local communities. Andy Brown, deputy secretary for programs at the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, gave an overview of potential pathways to reduce homelessness in the state Thursday. “The fact that we have a high percentage of unsheltered folks means that the visibility of homelessness is high,” Brown told lawmakers on the House Committee on Welfare Reform. “As we’re able to reduce the percentage of our homeless that are unsheltered, it will become something where it’s more difficult to see.” The reform committee is tasked with tackling the state’s homelessness problem, but committee action has been slow to come. During last year’s session, committee lawmakers heard a bill criminalizing homeless people, which fizzled after public outcry. This session, committee chairman Rep. Francis Awerkamp, a St. Marys Republican, characterized state homelessness as not “a massive issue,” but “certainly something we need to consider addressing.”
Source: KAKE – News
