Wichita to provide grant to help with housing project for homeless veterans

Wichita to provide grant to help with housing project for homeless veterans

Wichita to provide grant to help with housing project for homeless veterans

Wichita city council members have voted unanimously to provide a one-time grant of $75,000 to help with a project to help homeless veterans, but council members raised concerns about the lack of a policy for similar grant requests to the city.   They have directed city staff to work on a draft policy to consider at a future meeting.

Passageways is a group that is working on a project for a housing campus near I-235 and Seneca.  It will have 30 cottages that range from 500 to 750 square feet with a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and other features. The campus will have a resource center and a community center with playgrounds.   Susan Moellinger, a co-founder of Passageways, said she is working to bring as many agencies as possible into the center to provide services for veterans.

The council heard from a number of veterans and others who are supporting the project.   Passageways has raised $1.4 million to support what will be called the Homefront Veterans Neighborhood, and Moellinger told the council that the Goebel Family Star Lumber Charity Foundation has donated building materials for the cottages.  The Wichita Area Builders Association is donating labor.  The city’s grant would help with development of the resource center.

The estimated cost of the first phase of the project will be $3.5 million, including land acquisition.

Council members voiced concerns that the city does not have a policy for considering grant applications like this, and the grant was approved with a requirement that the city have a policy statement before they consider any future grant requests to the city.

 

 

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