Based on where you’re standing, Wichita’s first 24/7, year-round homeless shelter, now located in a sprawling red-brick, former school building, can look very different.
From the chair of an organizer, the emerging one-stop shop, known as Second Light, is the next chapter in the story of Wichita’s efforts to address homelessness. Almost everybody agrees it can be a lifesaver, a haven not just from the cold of the winter but also from late spring thunderstorms and oppressive summer heat.
The people who sleep there would like more of the services they’ve been assured would be offered and better conditions inside the shelter. Their perspectives vary; they are disabled, able-bodied, white, Black, young and senior citizens.
“They make it sound like it’s a big fix and that you’re going to come in and that you’re going to receive services. It’s not happening,” Deborah Pope, 72, said. She had been staying in Second Light since May 7 at the time of her interview in late June.
A common theme is that while it can be better than the streets, there’s disappointment too. There’s tension between staff and clients. The threat of fights between residents. Confusion over how to access services. Long waits for showers and toilets. (Plumbing has been a recurring problem, operators admit, because elementary school toilets were not built to handle this volume of adult usage.)
Steve Dixon and Kent Miracle, board members of Second Light, said the clients’ feedback was not surprising.
Both men emphasize that Second Light is being built from scratch, so many expected services are still en route. The pair are part of a volunteer-run board with a steep hill to climb; pushing forward a homeless campus center that’s under construction with residents still living inside, a murky financial future and a state legislature that largely does not see homelessness as an issue for them to relieve.
Dawn Shepler, president and CEO of HumanKind Ministries, which staffs and operates the shelter, said the concerns of the residents who spoke to The Journal were not an adequate representation of the shelter’s clientele, emphasizing that HumanKind sheltered and fed hundreds during winter operations and continues to do so under Second Light’s management.
“There are people that are going to be cantankerous,” Shepler said. “When they’re not well in their space, it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot that is positive coming from that. Sometimes we overlook what positive is. That positive is that during the winter shelter, it was cold outside, and we did save these lives, and that they did have a space to go that they didn’t freeze on the streets.”
Most of the dozen clients The Journal interviewed would agree with Shepler on the big picture – the shelter is far better than nothing. But their criticisms – and how they’re addressed – are worth attention.
Word can travel fast among homeless Wichita residents, and the stories they tell about the shelter and its conditions can make it harder or easier to persuade those who could benefit from the shelter and its offerings.
Pope, a senior, needs accessible housing because she uses a wheelchair. She said much of her time at the shelter is spent waiting for the resources Second Light (and the former winter shelter) promised: meals, showers, health resources and housing case management. She’ll stake out for days within the shelter’s walls for a chance to get on the waitlist to see a case manager.
“I have to sit in there. If I’m out(side), I’ll miss somebody. It’s not organized. It’s not scheduled. They try to say (when case managers are here) but it doesn’t happen. I don’t know where the communication gap is,” she said.
The last two emergency winter shelters offered shelter and meals, but also resources such as mental and behavioral health services and housing case management, commonly referred to as wraparound services. These continue to be advertised as offerings to shelter residents today, as Pope and others noted.
However, in the weeks after The Journal interviewed Second Light organizers for this story, a press conference was held announcing the beginning of construction and that the campus’ wraparound services would become fully available in January.
James Roberts, from Wichita State University’s Public Policy & Management Center, a facilitator for Second Light and the city’s Homelessness Task Force, later clarified in an email to The Journal that services such as shelter, meals, housing, mental, behavioral and medical health are accessible today, but are “limited due to space constraints during construction,” as Second Light builds through its second phase of growth (the third, and final, phase is building supportive housing units on campus).
This model we’re building … I know it will work, having been homeless. It works because I’ve seen models in other markets. It’s incredibly exciting. Now, goodness, do some days feel uphill? Sure, two steps forward, one step back. Of course.Kent Miracle, board member of Second Light
For shelter residents like Erwin Frankfort, 70, constraints go beyond spatial needs.
He hunches over a cane, his spine permanently curved. He’s stayed at Second Light for six months, an experience he has little positive to relay.
“I have never seen a group of people that don’t have any common sense,” Frankfort said, a comment aimed at both staff and guests at Second Light. “I would give the shirt off my back to help a person. But these people push you so damn far.”
Among disabled residents, certain shelter rules can be exasperating. Frankfort, like many other guests, is a senior and has a disability. He’s angry that he isn’t allowed to lie down during the day to rest.
Gary Flanning, 57, uses a wheelchair and said that staff took away his prescribed cushion for his chair because guests aren’t allowed to bring in bedding. (A nurse present during his interview confirmed this.) Pope said she’s waited anywhere from three to seven days to take a shower in the accessible bathroom. Another man who uses a wheelchair and declined to give his name regularly contorts himself into an uncomfortable position to sleep during the day since he can’t be in the sleeping area outside of bedtime hours. He sometimes tries to lie down on the floor in the common area or by curling into his arms at mealtime.
The criticisms echo some of the same things that The Journal reported regarding the previous winter’s shelter.
How much the staff hears about such concerns is unclear. Shepler said there is a complaint box accessible for residents to submit feedback.
But those who were interviewed don’t use it, seeing it primarily as a way to tattle on staff and potentially increase conflict. In-person feedback isn’t sought out, they said. And they still aren’t clear on how to connect with services, like housing, or where case managers are.
Two Wichita-based groups of lived experience also weighed in.
The Alliance of Overlooked Neighbors, a group of currently and formerly homeless Wichitans and other advocates promoting lived experience as key to policy-making, told The Journal that their members were grateful for a shelter, but that “how it runs now is not great or inviting, so we understand why people say they don’t want to go.”
Five Alliance members said their stay at the shelter was traumatic, leaving them feeling disrespected, unloved and like their needs were an inconvenience.
“We appreciate that there is acknowledgement from Second Light’s board that lived experience representation is vital to being successful and creating a place people will want to go to,” they said. “Alliance of Overlooked Neighbors extends an open invitation to any homeless service provider including Second Light who wants to better incorporate lived experience representation into their service delivery to have more in-depth conversations with us.”
Grassroots Bridge Builders ICT also said their members experienced “significant challenges” while living at Second Light.
“Several key concerns were raised, particularly around hygiene and self-care as they relate to dignity and autonomy,” Donna Garcia, the executive director wrote in a statement. “Ambassadors described significant challenges including … limited access to showers, both when wanted and when urgently needed (e.g., after incontinence episodes), inadequate accommodations for ADA-related needs and medical conditions (and) a lack of trauma-informed care competencies among staff, particularly in managing sensitive situations.”
An ‘inherently uncomfortable’ environment
The shelter, one of Wichita’s most significant initiatives to address homelessness, is still a work in progress.
Second Light is undergoing construction, limiting the number of shelter beds available as crews rotate through each section of the campus over the next six months. Finances beyond 2026 have yet to be secured. The board is searching for a leader to take over day-to-day operations. And, the board admits, the number of people with physical disabilities or using wheelchairs has caught them by surprise.
“It’s not unexpected to hear this kind of commentary, and I get it,” said Dixon, the board chair. “Building this project is an ongoing piece of work. Right now, it does not surprise me that people are, you know, ‘Hey, where are these resources?’”
Miracle, the other board member interviewed, was homeless in the early 2000s in Wichita, sometimes sleeping outside, at Union Rescue Mission or at the winter shelters provided by Interfaith Ministries – now HumanKind Ministries.
He said homeless shelters are ripe for complaints, as it’s an inherently uncomfortable environment, sharing space with strangers in a situation no one wants to be in. When he was homeless, he said, he would stay awake all night out of fear.
“It’s easy to go there,” he said of the fear. “Because way down deep, no one wants to be there. None of them really want to,” Miracle said. “That population – that I am a part of, because I’m alumni – tends to lean into: ‘This food sucks and I’m all jammed up and I’m nervous and staff are jerks and I don’t feel safe.’
“I complained. As grateful as I was, I complained. Because I still thought the staff at the Mission and ComCare (shelters) were just unfriendly, and I felt like I was inferior, and they were treating me as cattle. I thought I should be treated better, even though I was grateful not to be outside,” he said.
Jesse Rabinowitz, the communications and campaign director for the National Homelessness Law Center, based in Washington, D.C., said none of the concerns coming from clients in Wichita is unusual.
“The reasons that people don’t want to go to shelter are often referred to as the five P’s. Possessions: You can’t bring in more than X amount of bags. Partners: Are you able to go into shelter with your partner, even if you’re of different genders? Program rules: What time do you have to line up? Can you reserve your bed? The Pandemic: People saying even before COVID that it wasn’t healthy to live in a room with 20, 30, 40, 50 people. The pandemic really showed that. And Pets: Most shelters won’t let you bring in your pets unless they’re service animals,” Rabinowitz said.
Guests are just one example of how the shelter is solidifying and how aspects of its aspirations remain elusive. Second Light is in the midst of a search for a long-term shelter operator and an executive director who will lead program development, oversee construction and navigate a worrying financial landscape. The city of Wichita has fronted nearly $30 million (half of it for housing) to build out the campus and keep the shelter running until October 2026. The board is confident it can secure sustainable funding one way or another, regardless of state or federal impacts.
“When resources get scarce is really the time when you find out how willing people are to share,” Dixon said. “How do we work together most effectively and really tamp down on any duplication of service? Because we cannot fail in what we’re doing. If we all agree that the mission is that critical, we’re going to have to figure out how to take that small pool of resources and spread it as thin as possible to make the biggest impact that we can.”
Homelessness is a complex challenge involving immediate needs and systemic problems. Second Light’s existence is the result of significant city support and a network of collaboration among service providers, officials and community members.
“What you’re seeing now is the next chapter in a brand new book that’s being written that this city has never seen before, anything like it,” Miracle said. “This model we’re building … I know it will work, having been homeless. It works because I’ve seen models in other markets. It’s incredibly exciting. Now, goodness, do some days feel uphill? Sure, two steps forward, one step back. Of course.”
Rabinowitz said shelters are important for short-term emergency needs, but unless there’s an increase in quality, affordable housing, people “just languish.”
“We need a ton more money for housing and support,” he said.
The encouraging steps include covered startup costs and enthusiastic momentum for a solution years in the making, arriving at a time when homelessness continues to increase in Wichita. During January’s Point-in-Time Count, volunteers identified 736 people as homeless, a 6.11% increase from last year.
Success is ‘turning no one way’
Organizers see early success stories they can point to.
Shepler oversaw her first emergency shelter this season, coming into her role in the spring of 2024. She said she felt the weight of expectations.
“We had to make sure that it went over as well as possible over the winter shelter season so that it would be more, I would say, ‘acceptable’ from the community,” Shepler said. “I know there were some struggles between the community and rightfully so. It (the building) was a school just a few months before, and having it come into a shelter was difficult for the community.”
There have been significant changes from the prior season to the most recent one. For one, Shepler took it upon herself to make sure there was always enough food, a source of complaints historically that still comes up. Shepler said she hired double the amount of staff and added on-site administrative leadership. The city of Wichita also sent a field inspector, a monitoring requirement in its contract with HumanKind that officials failed to follow the season before.
Shepler judged the season to be a success using one important measure.
“There was not one single person who was turned away from services that had not been suspended or trespassed from the service,” Shepler said. “We were able to house and provide services for so many different individuals over the winter season, and the numbers of people that we served that were so much greater for so much longer than we had ever served through an emergency winter shelter.” (Records show that the shelter served 1,306 individuals.)
You get a bed every night. I’m grateful for that. I don’t want to take that away from them. But don’t just herd us in here like we’re in a zoo.Deborah Pope, resident at Second Light
The biggest change at the former school is that the emergency winter shelter ceased on April 1, flipping to become Wichita’s first full-time homeless shelter, permanently located in Midtown – which drew ire from surrounding homeowners. What was known as the city’s Multi-Agency Center has become Second Light, operated by the nonprofit organization on property owned by the city.
This brings the shelter, the homeless and Wichita into a fragile, yet accelerated period. Political will, COVID relief dollars and community momentum has brought Wichita this far into prioritizing solutions to homelessness, Dixon said.
“You have to have the attitude that we can’t fail, because what we’re trying to get done is that important,” Dixon said. “We’ve just got to not lose sight of the ‘why’. The ‘why’ is: there’s somebody sitting in that shelter today that has an opportunity to have a better life. It’s our job, our responsibility, to get them there.”
With great responsibility comes growing pains.
Operators don’t want to shut down for construction, to prevent the loss of beds. So, doors will remain open during scheduled construction over the next six months. Beds stay free, but in a transforming environment riddled with literal and metaphoric transformation.
Dixon and Miracle said Second Light aims to move away from night-by-night stays and into an entry/exit program starting in August, meaning they want Second Light to become more programmatic and less of an emergency setting. For example, residents will be assigned a bed for the duration of their stay, with an emphasis on providing the services and connections to housing. They won’t need to request and be assigned a bed each night.
The winter shelter was, at its core, death prevention, a place to protect those without homes during the cold weather months.
“The perception of what that is versus what we want to get to are different places,” Dixon said. “How do we communicate that out to our neighbors that this is something different? They may have experienced shelter in that form long ago. … How do we get those people that may have had those experiences back?”
The winter shelter, in concept, has had a tough notoriety to overcome in Wichita, as scores of people experiencing homelessness decline to stay in them, something many providers in the local homelessness ecosystem acknowledge.
“As a marketing guy, I know there’s segments that you just can’t reach. That’s OK,” Miracle said. “At the same time, the irony … sometimes those are the ones that the general public wants us to address first. The ones that are the most challenging (to get in).”
There was not one single person who was turned away from services … and the numbers of people that we served that were so much greater for so much longer than we had ever served through an emergency winter shelter.Dawn Shepler, President and CEO of HumanKind Ministries
Rabinowitz, with the Homelessness Law Center, emphasized that homeless people are allowed to have preferences in where and how they take shelter.
“People talk. Information gets spread really quickly. People experiencing homelessness are allowed to have preferences and thoughts and desires just like everyone else. I think we’ve all bought this, ‘Beggars can’t be choosers.’ That’s not true. Everyone has the right to choose what works for them and what doesn’t work for them,” he said.
Second Light plans to lean heavily on street outreach and word of mouth to emphasize what their multi-agency center will be: a place to sleep, yes, but also a place with all the services a homeless person could need under one roof.
“It’s hard. You gotta let go of the fact that you’re not going to save everyone you meet, but we have an opportunity to attract people that we wouldn’t have before and that is what energizes me to no end,” Miracle said.
Many cite refusing to part from their partner or pet as a reason to not take shelter. (HumanKind’s winter shelters separated men and women at night and nearly all Wichita shelters lack capacity to kennel pets.) Others are more forthcoming about the negative reputation associated with the winter shelters of the past. They don’t share the optimism that Second Light’s planners do.
Homeless shelter residents express skepticism
Shepler and Dixon said there is lived experience input. Dixon and Miracle said they build their plans off of service provider knowledge and a gaps analysis brought to them from the Sedgwick County Coalition to End Homelessness, which surveyed 75 people last fall.
Yet Second Light residents said they aren’t routinely asked for feedback and said they don’t know how to connect with services like housing.
Several current residents said they have concerns about staffing. They experience a lack of empathy from staff, something they interpret as an inability to handle various health and safety issues.
Timothy, 44, was at the shelter in mid-June, when Wichita was slammed by a series of severe thunderstorms. He struggles with anxiety and other health issues, including pseudo-seizures, which are commonly triggered by psychological stressors.
“I have very bad social anxiety at times,” Timothy said. He gets overwhelmed having to sleep in a room full of strangers, worrying about fights and theft. “I had a seizure, and I came-to while staff was pumping me full of Narcan. I was already kind of coming out of it when they shoved it up my nose.”
He flailed, which he said staff interpreted as evidence of aggression and drug usage.
Destiny, another shelter resident, sitting with Timothy, said she is a certified nurse’s assistant and shelter staff lack trauma-informed de-escalation skills.
“Emotionally this has already taken a toll on everybody. They expect for us to tattle on each other like we’re little kids,” she said. “There is no de-escalation (training). They come in: ‘You need to go! You’re gone for 24 hours!’”
A19-year-old woman, whose name is being withheld because she is a survivor of domestic violence, offered a nuanced staff assessment.
“I’ve told some staff, ‘I’m leaving in three days.’ and they’re like ‘Oh my god, we’re so proud of you. You’ve done so good,’” she said. “But a lot of the time, staff don’t talk to you. They don’t check in on you. There’s a lot of people going through really hard stuff here, who just need someone to lean on, and not everyone is willing to listen. They try to talk to the staff about it, and staff brush it off.”
The Second Light board knows that they need to work with HumanKind for “significant” staff training, a concern that’s carried over from last year’s shelter, despite it being staffed by temporary workers versus today’s more permanent positions. Clients still worry that staff are not prepared to handle physical safety, mental health or other common shelter issues.
People experiencing homelessness are allowed to have preferences and thoughts and desires just like everyone else. … Everyone has the right to choose what works for them and what doesn’t work for them.Jesse Rabinowitz, Campaign and Communications Director at the National Homelessness Law Center
“The emergency winter shelter was pretty short-term. Now we have the opportunity to work with HK and others to do significant staff training,” Dixon said. “How do you welcome a person that’s coming in off the street? How do you address issues during intake? Better understanding and more empathy.” He added that feedback demands consistent enforcement of rules, but also consistent treatment too.
Shepler, the president of HumanKind, wants a consistent feedback loop between shelter residents and operators.
“Everybody’s going to have a struggle or a barrier, and unless they communicate that barrier to us, it’s hard for us to understand what their barriers are,” Shepler said. “They can send me an email. If they’re still there, they can fill out a form and turn it into the program manager there. They can talk to the lead staff.”
HumanKind now has a manager for each shift, something Dixon said is a new constant and key to building trust.
“If I know what I’m going to get when I walk in the door, I know that I’m going to be treated with respect and dignity when I walk in the door, and I will have a safe space,” he said.
Destiny, a shelter resident, doesn’t see that being achieved yet. “I don’t find anything functional about anything in there. We have to get on a shower sign-up sheet to get a shower. If we get jobs around here, we’re basically sent to work stinking because we can’t get to the shower when we need to.”
In July, Second Light issued a RFP for a long-term shelter service operator beginning October 1, with the hope of also having its new executive director in place by then. HumanKind plans to apply as an operator.
Second Light is Wichita’s only low-barrier, co-ed homeless shelter. As Pope and other residents said, it should be a center of security, stability and salvation for people going through extraordinarily hard times. Right now, though, obtaining a bed and meals come with trade-offs that can sometimes feel dehumanizing.
“You get a bed every night. I’m grateful for that. I don’t want to take that away from them,” Pope said. “But don’t just herd us in here like we’re in a zoo. People are sitting at tables, lined up against the wall, packed in there. Just packed. People have their heads down. They’re just sitting. Waiting for the next mealtime or smoke break.”
This article was provided through the Wichita Journalism Collaborative, a partnership of 10 media and community partners, including KMUW.