Three months after it approved a nearly half-million-dollar budget for a homeless response team, the city of Lawrence passed a new policy on homelessness that aims to prioritize county resources for long-term Douglas County residents.

Francesca Onofrio | @francescaonofrio.news

The new policy and homelessness response team will work together to support Douglas County residents. One of the main goals is to help non-residents connect with their home county or state resources. 

“This policy will provide us with more options to the people that we would normally say we can’t provide any services,” James Chiselom, executive director of the Lawrence Community Shelter, said. 

“It will give us the ability to give them a number to the homelessness response team and say, call this number: (785) 760-148. They will talk to you and give you an assessment to find out if you are able to receive our services,” 

Chiselom said that a lack of available resources means Douglas County does not have the capacity to help everyone; he said the aim of the new policy is for homeless people in Lawrence to have a better chance of guaranteed access to services,

 “Based on their assessment of what your needs are and where they can get you to, where you have resources or supports,” he said.

“It gives people an option to maybe go back to receive some of those supports where they have them immediately instead of languishing here without those supports and struggling. It’s not easy to be unhoused. It is not easy.”

Misty Bosch-Hastings, the director of homeless solutions for Douglas County, said that the organization’s priority has shifted to long-term residents of the area.

Long-term residents are classified as people who have any type of proof of address, birth certificate, or other document showing past residency. 

 “We are trying to figure out how we can work with individuals that aren’t residents and still try to take care of them and get them connected to the right places but still prioritize our Douglas County residents,” Bosch-Hastings said. 

According to Bosch-Hastings, the goal of this policy is to help people find and secure resources. This is part of a five-step plan intended to continue through 2028. For more information about this plan, visit www.lawrenceks.org/homeless-solutions/