Residents concerned as behavioral health, shelter projects move onward

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Council advanced two big projects Thursday that will separately address people battling mental health challenges and homelessness one block away from each other.

Council approved Ordinance 240690 , which allows City Manager Brian Platt to start negotiating with Hope Faith Homeless Assistance Campus and Care Beyond the Boulevard to see how those organizations will split roughly $7.1 million in HUD grant money to help the homeless population.

Ordinance 240691 authorizes Platt to start acquiring land near Belvidere Park for a 300,000-square-foot behavioral health facility that would employ about 600 people and have beds for about 200 people who need treatment.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas says the facility is long overdue but a public announcement on Monday, followed by Finance Committee advancement on Tuesday and full Council advancement on Thursday leaves neighbors like Sarah Lift feeling like she’s in the dark.

“They’re not considering how the residents feel about this,” said Lift, who has lived in nearby Pendleton Heights for 12 years.

She says the speed at which the behavioral health facility seems to be moving and its proximity to the low-barrier shelter upgrades are too much.

“I do think that there is a need for these services, it’s just that to concentrate them in such a very compact area is very unfair to us,” said Lift.

“This is what we’re going to drive by every day going to and from our neighborhoods.”

One additional step in acquiring land for the facility is the fact that about half of it is owned by the Housing Authority of Kansas City.

“HUD funding went into the whole operations over the last [70] years of that development,” said Housing Authority of Kansas City Executive Director Edwin Lowndes.

“[HUD has] a say in how we get rid of it.”

The land used to be the public housing site Chouteau Courts before it was demolished in 2019.

“Because it was used as public housing, it was funded through the federal government, through HUD,” said Lowndes.

“We have to go through an approval process saying can we sell this property and under what conditions.”

Lowndes says he also expects HUD to prefer the land is sold at market rate, potentially driving up the cost of acquisition.

Mayor Lucas addressed that step after Thursday’s Council meeting.

“We wouldn’t be here today without having had extensive conversations with HUD,” said Mayor Lucas.

“We value our relationship with them, we give them our greatest respect, and frankly, even after the last discussion, we did more work to see how could we do right with our obligations with HUD. They, more than anything, want to see people off the streets.”

He says the 200 beds for patients battling mental health challenges is a positive for the city and the community it lands in.

“You can have a health institution and still have a great neighborhood nearby,” said Mayor Lucas.

“We have that all over the city so I hope people don’t equate mental health challenges and the patients who will be here with challenges on the streets.”

As for neighborhood concerns about the speed that the project has moved with, Mayor Lucas says there will be more chances to shape the finished product.

“This is actually just the beginning of, ‘What type of facility do we build, how do we make sure there’s safety and security nearby,’ but I will tell you this: a mental health institution is among the safest places you can actually have,” said Mayor Lucas.

“This is not us saying there’s some forgotten part of the city where we’re going to throw everything. This is a key part of the city, one I care about a lot.”

Early plans are for that facility to open in 2027 or 2028.

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