Sally, a housing department staff member, told the council the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation opened discretionary Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) funding for innovative projects addressing homelessness and poverty. The city intends to apply and, if funded, contract with the Substance Abuse Center of Kansas as a subrecipient to embed a peer recovery specialist into outreach efforts.

Sally described the peer recovery specialist as someone with lived experience in homelessness, mental health or substance use who would work directly with the unsheltered resource coordinator, the homeless outreach (HAT) team, Continuum of Care partners and the Wichita Police Department’s outreach efforts to engage people living in encampments and link them to housing and services.

Sally said the role is meant to complement existing outreach rather than replace other services. She added that the effort is part of a larger, coordinated approach and that the department will bring in Mandy Chapman Semple, a national expert on encampment decommissioning, in July to work on strategy, training and targeted sessions for decision makers and boots-on-the-ground staff.

City staff described an engagement flowchart they will distribute to councilmembers this week that explains how police contact (HOT) and housing outreach coordinate when camps are identified, posted and addressed. Council approved the consent agenda item authorizing the grant and program approach by a 7-0 vote.

The council’s action was to approve the consent item; any hiring, contracting or program start will be contingent on grant awards and subsequent administrative steps.