A women’s-only sober living home: shut down. A shelter and joint-recovery facility: shuttered. Behavioral health jobs in rural communities: eliminated. Contracts with nationally renowned affordable housing experts: severed.
These are a few examples of what Kansas lost after $2.3 million was cut from the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services – on directions from the Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts to cut federal spending.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ordered the state to cease funding or stop reimbursements for any programs funded by mental health or substance abuse grants funded by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), a Biden administration program to address the health and economic impacts of the pandemic. Housing, homelessness and mental health initiatives in Liberal, Hiawatha, Holton, Baxter Springs, Topeka, Wichita, Kansas City and the counties of Miami, Franklin and Johnson all took hits.
Homelessness initiatives operate in an ecosystem built to respond more often than to prevent. Any shift in its order can cause a systematic short-circuit, especially in rural areas with already scarce resources.
“We’re looking at the entire homeless response system, which is also getting cuts in places you wouldn’t consider part of that system. Community health workers, they got their funding cut. They have been, especially in rural Kansas … instrumental in connecting individuals and families with those service providers,” said Kayla Knier, director of regional coordination for the Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition.
“That help to the homeless response system is not there anymore. So there’s more pressure on case managers, on agencies, who are also having to let staff go, taking on higher case loads, which means that individuals and families are not getting the support they need. It’s definitely a huge strain all the way around,” she said.
Among the stark policy pivots emerging from the second Trump administration, the shift in direction on homelessness policy ranks among the sharpest. Providing homeless people basic necessities, such as food and shelter to speed their path out of homelessness, had become widely accepted by agencies in blue and red states. But the Trump administration is trying to force the issue of homelessness into a concern of crime and disorder, accusing past programs for failing to address public safety.
Drew Adkins, the commissioner for behavioral health at the Department for Aging and Disability Services, said the affected programs were centered around getting vulnerable populations safe, supportive housing and introducing crisis services in counties with few resources.
“It’s probably not a surprise to most people you talk to that affordable housing, specifically for individuals that have disabilities – mental, behavioral and physical – is few and far in-between,” he said.
A homelessness coordinator for each continuum of care in the state was cut. Training and consultation contracts with Sam Tsembaris, the founder of Housing First, and Julia Orlando, an expert on functional zero homelessness, were also ended. The two were working alongside Kansas officials and providers to optimize the state’s homelessness work.
Two large swaths of intervention programs were also cut: Destination Home and Kan-house. Destination Home was an effort to develop substance use recovery supportive services with a housing first approach. Kan-house funded employees at five mental or behavioral health clinics to support getting clients into permanent supportive housing.
“These grants are not supplemental; they are foundational,” said Krista Eylar, chief executive officer of Kanza Mental Health and Guidance Center. Kanza lost over $89,361.
“This grant was instrumental in enabling Kanza and many other centers to develop and expand critical services, especially in supporting clients in accessing safe and stable housing, an urgent and ongoing challenge in our rural communities where options are severely limited,” Eylar said. “These funds allowed us to hire, recruit and train highly qualified staff, build out entirely new services and create the infrastructure to meet long-term community needs.”
‘Unfair to the little guy’
In Baxter Springs, a city of 3,900 just north of the Oklahoma border, a 14-bed shelter for people with substance use or mental health issues never made it past its pilot programming – not because of failing operations, but because its owner couldn’t afford to run it without the federal grant.
“We were a great place, loving, safe, accountable environment for those that need the accountability to make sure their recovery goes the way they want to,” said Doug Bastien, the executive director of Be Free KC. “Then we got the news.”
Be Free KC lost $47,585. Those funds would have paid the rent and utility costs of running the Cherokee County shelter. But without that support, it wasn’t feasible for the small nonprofit to keep it running.
About half of the clients the facility saw were homeless or recently released from jail – vulnerable community members sometimes with substance use or mental health issues in an area with very limited options.
Bastien was forced to make another tough decision elsewhere. Be Free was aiming to open five sober living homes (including in Baxter Springs). Instead, the nonprofit scaled back to operating two men’s homes in Kansas City, Kansas. He shut down a women’s home, as it was more expensive to run.
“Thankfully, we run the organization well enough that the (men’s) homes could be self-sustaining, but it stunted our growth,” Bastien said. “We no longer have a women’s option. But I’m going to fight my way back to figure that out.”
Kenneth Shrout, a Kansas City native, has lived in one of the men’s homes for one year. He decided to get sober after convincing himself that he “was going to die by using alcohol.”
Now sober for 18 months, Shrout said that he chose Be Free over living with family because he didn’t think the latter option would be good for his sobriety.
“We keep each other safe and from other people that are going to antagonize us or hurt us emotionally. Being around people that we can trust through addiction and therapy is really important,” Shrout said. “That’s what these houses are. That’s why pulling money … is really a shame. It’s really unfair to the little guy.”
These shutdowns emphasize the consequences of clawing back such grants: marginalized populations (women, people with mental health issues, people with disabilities) are taking the hardest hits. Medicaid is also losing funding. Harm reduction efforts are likely to lose federal support, as well.
Advocates in Kansas and across the country said that these cancellations will worsen homelessness.
“If we’re working as a state to implement Built for Zero (a program to end homelessness) … many, many cuts or delays in funding will harm our efforts to have success,” said Christy McMurphy, executive director of the Statewide Homeless Coalition. “We have a system, trying to get more people to report to us, work with us, so every unhoused individual can be served and housed again. It’s hard for us to do that with things being cut everywhere.”
The Journal reached out to state Rep. Francis Awerkamp, state Sen. Beverly Gossage and state Rep. Leah Howell for comment on the program cuts, as all three were on a special legislative committee on homelessness in 2023. Awerkamp and Gossage, the respective chair and vice chair of the committee, could not be reached.
Howell, a Derby Republican, provided a statement saying that the loss of the funds challenges both rural and urban communities.
“ARPA funds were always a temporary resource, not a long-term solution, so Kansas will need to pivot and identify sustainable, creative funding approaches to continue this important work,” Howell said. “As we move forward, collaboration and strategic investment will be key to ensuring progress toward our shared goal of reducing homelessness and supporting vulnerable Kansans onto a pathway to success.”
It’s unfortunate because those beds are people. And those people are not just the person; it’s their children, their spouse, their mom and dad. What we are doing is part of the solution.Doug Bastien, executive director of Be Free KC
At the heart of the Trump administration’s approach to homelessness is eliminating homeless encampments and involuntarily committing people to treatment for mental health or substance use issues. President Donald Trump also declared diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in government and the private sector “illegal and immoral,” and restricted conditions for related funding.
“We’re in a state where people, our workers, who, again, are already underpaid, overworked. … The federal government is asking people to put aside their values to do the work,” said Kaylee Coulter, senior director of compliance and operations at the Greater Kansas City Coalition to End Homelessness.
“The reason I’m in this field is because of all of these things grounded in our work,” Coulter said. “We’ve had several providers that have said, ‘Hey, I’m not signing that contract. I’m either giving money back or I’m taking myself out of this space and I’m going to work in the corporate world.’ That’s one of the most devastating things happening right now.”
Amber Bauer, senior director of continuum of care planning and engagement at the KC coalition, said homelessness intervention and prevention have become disenfranchised because of the confusion and cancellations.
“It’s like your hot air balloon is gradually deflating, and it’s out of our control. How do you continue to show up and do the work?” Bauer said. “It’s tough. We’re losing a lot of good people in this sector because of it. People are scared.”
Reversing Housing First
Part of that fear stems from worries of regression. For decades, the federal government endorsed Housing First – a policy that prioritizes housing someone first then wrapping that individual in services like mental health care and employment assistance. The Department of Veterans Affairs found that adopting the model shortened the wait time for housing for homeless veterans from 223 days to 35.
Now, the Trump administration has heavily criticized the concept, shifting away from an evidence-backed approach and treating homelessness as a matter of individual choice.
Service providers say that change will rapidly tear down a mountain of work that took decades to build.
“A lot of the cuts being made to happen are cuts affecting the already marginalized and special populations that we serve. … Yet in the second breath, we’re talking about moving away from the traditional Housing First model and moving back into treatment-focused, you-must-do-this, you-must-do-that before you’re deserving of housing,” Bauer said.
“That completely counteracts with the 20 plus years of work and data we’ve been doing. And so I am fearful for that, and that the national and federal priorities are going to shift and completely counteract what we’ve built and what the system has proven to work.”
‘We owe it to Kansans to keep plugging along’
Since these late winter cuts, the state aging and disability services agency issued temporary, slimmed down contracts to the Statewide Homeless Coalition to sustain Destination Home for at least one more year and assign homelessness coordinators to each continuum of care, also for one year, and a statewide coach trained in Built for Zero methodology. Adkins said the department paid for it by dipping into a reserve it had set aside for housing initiatives.
Smaller clinics, like Be Free KC and Kanza, hope to recoup some of their lost funds by applying for private grants and seeking philanthropic donations.
Eylar, the CEO of Kanza, said her nonprofit decided to retain the employees originally funded by the federal grant – but at a financial loss. That’s placing pressure on Kanza to make reductions in other areas, seek alternative funding and “ensure every staff member is billing when possible.”
“Unfortunately, many of these services are not reimbursed by private insurers, and none are reimbursed when provided to uninsured clients. That means we are often providing essential care for which we receive no compensation at all,” Eylar said.
“While we understand and support the need to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly, it’s important to acknowledge that community mental health centers have historically been underfunded. The loss of grant funding doesn’t just reduce our capacity; it threatens the quality and sustainability of care that every Kansan deserves.”
Each continuum of care – Topeka, Sedgwick County, Johnson County, Shawnee County, Wyandotte County and Balance of State (all remaining counties) – should have HUD funding through 2026. These monies were awarded this spring, but were applied for last year. Providers have little idea how the next round of HUD applications will go, but Trump’s executive order targeting homelessness implies that the competition for the funds will get worse.
“People spiral, exhaust ourselves just because we’re living in fear. Yesterday I got a question like, ‘What are the funding requirements to apply for (HUD) funding?’ and I’m like, ‘I can’t really tell you,’” Coulter said. “That is a really gross feeling to say to people, because … people come to us expecting to get answers. We can provide what we’re hearing, but I hate just being able to provide speculation and more fear.”
Adkins offered one silver lining: the Kansas Housing Resources Corp. won a HUD 811 grant, which provides housing and supportive services to low-income people with disabilities and works with developers to build affordable housing for the same population. The Corp. will work with the Department for Aging and Disability Services and the Department of Health and Environment to execute the grant, which will be $8 million a year for five years, with a chance to renew the fund for up to 20 years. The state agencies have yet to receive a final contract or funds to start the program, according to Adkins.
“I’m very excited about that. We’re kind of going back and forth right now, but we have been assured that this funding will still be available to us,” Adkins said.
In the meantime, service providers and agencies are determined to march forward despite the hits endured and murky future.
Coulter, with the Kansas City coalition, said that employees are leaning hard onto one another, holding space for vent sessions and possible next steps.
“I keep reminding myself that an executive order is not law. That helps a lot. We should listen to it, but it’s also not law,” she said. “I think educating ourselves, our providers and trickling it down to our clients on what is enforceable, what is not (helps). What are your rights? What are not your rights?”
Bastien with Be Free KC is looking for a way to stay solvent after losing the dual venture with the Department for Aging and Disability Services.
“It’s unfortunate because those beds are people. And those people are not just the person; it’s their children, their spouse, their mom and dad,” he said. “What we are doing is part of the solution.”
Adkins remains optimistic about the agency’s ability to weather the federal government’s unpredictability.
“There are things like the Big, Beautiful Bill and guidance we’re having to emulate … but I think we are a team … up to that challenge,” he said. “We owe it to Kansans to keep plugging along and to keep working very hard.”
This article was provided through the Wichita Journalism Collaborative, a partnership of 10 media and community partners, including KMUW.