When it comes to addressing homelessness, Kansans know best

Thursday afternoon, I sat through the House Committee on Welfare Reform’s hearing on HB 2430. I can say that this bill would be a disaster for Kansans.

HB 2430 will ban camping on local lands as well as state land. If enforced, violators could be charged with a class C misdemeanor with potential fines and jail time. The bill allows the state attorney general to sue local governments that do not enforce the ban.

If passed, the bill will leave Kansas with more people experiencing homelessness, potential lawsuits between local municipalities and the state, and perhaps even between the federal and the state government.

I have worked in the homeless service field since 1994, beginning as a housing specialist with Valeo’s newly formed homeless outreach team, The Hope Connection, in Topeka. From there, I moved to Kansas Department for Disability and Aging Services as a housing specialist overseeing the homeless and housing programs for KDADS, followed by Kim Wilson Housing, an affordable housing agency in Wyandotte County, where I became the executive director. I am now the executive director for the Kansas Statewide Homelessness Coalition.

During those years, I have been an active member of the Shawnee County Homeless Coalition, the Greater Kansas City Coalition to End Homelessness, a board member of the Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition and a member of the governor’s Behavioral Health Services Planning Council’s Subcommittee on Housing and Homelessness.

Throughout my career, not once before Thursday did I sit through a hearing at the Kansas Statehouse specifically concerning homelessness, and not once have I encountered a bill as heartless as HB 2430.

There was only one proponent, Judge Glock, identified as a senior fellow at the Cicero Institute, a public policy think tank in Austin, Texas.

Glock’s testimony centered on his belief (and ostensibly the Cicero Institute’s position) that Kansas communities should leave few options for unsheltered persons other than turning to family and friends for shelter or, preferably, going into structured settings where they can be contained, supervised and provided treatment they may or may not want.

In his scenario, unnamed and presumably unfunded others will be constructing tiny structures to keep homeless people out of the elements. While I’m not an attorney, this proposal raised many red flags for me. More importantly, Glock will not be here to pick up the pieces. Kansans will.

I say to members of the House Welfare Reform Committee and to the state if Kansas, if you really want to understand homelessness and want to develop sound policies and programs to solve homelessness in Kansas, talk to Kansans. Talk to the many Kansas homeless service providers and people with lived experience of homelessness across the state and in your communities.

They will tell you that homelessness is a housing problem. They will tell you that housing needs to be affordable (meaning that ideally, housing costs will not exceed 30% of a low-income’s renter’s income, so that the household can afford other necessities). They will tell you that most people who have mental illness live independently in housing, integrated among persons who do not have mental illness.

The national and state goal of implementing the Housing First approach stems in part from the 1999 U.S. Supreme Court Olmstead decision that states must ensure that individuals with disabilities who are eligible for services are able to receive them in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs. Following this ruling, permanent supportive housing projects sprang up across the country, enabling people in institutions and those at risk of being institutionalized due to homelessness, were able move into housing of their own choice in communities of their choosing.

In Kansas, compliance with Olmstead has been lacking. There are few permanent supportive housing programs in Kansas, and the state has provided few resources to support their development.

Permanent supportive housing requires three things. First, affordable housing. Second, rental subsidies. Third, services and supports. All of these are difficult to find in Kansas, especially if you do not have health insurance, if you have a criminal history or a disability, or if you don’t live where affordable housing is being built — let alone if a landlord is willing to rent to you.

I am going to take the liberty of speaking for the many dedicated, compassionate homeless services providers and for persons with lived experience of homelessness. If the state of Kansas is serious about solving homelessness, we are ready to work with you to find cost-effective, person centered, trauma informed and racially just solutions.

We collectively believe that Glock’s opinions about what’s best for Kansas are nowhere close to those of the Kansans who live in and know our communities, and who know and recognize these vulnerable Kansans as fellow human beings.

Christy McMurphy has 29 years of experience advocating for and overseeing the expansion of safe, decent, and affordable housing for youth, families, and single adults. She currently is the executive director of the Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.