The number of people experiencing homelessness in Wichita was the highest on record this year. But federal dollars to pay for emergency shelter haven’t kept up. As social service providers struggle, state and local officials are wondering whether they need to pitch in to pay for shelter.
Plus more on these stories:
- The Wichita City Council will consider approving bonuses for police officers at tomorrow's council meeting in hopes of retaining them. KMUW’s Kylie Cameron reports.
- The Wichita City Council will consider a 5 percent rate increase for Wichita water and sewer customers next year.
- The Maize School District says the incident that sparked a federal investigation occurred last March.
- For the first time since 2016, the revenue forecast in Kansas has gone down. The state will still have a healthy budget surplus that lawmakers will squabble over.
- Wichita still needs about $20 million dollars to build a multi-agency center to address homelessness, the city's housing director said at a meeting Friday.
- Kansas State University is launching a Kansas Water Institute to advance research on one of the state’s most pressing issues.
- The local chapter of the Salvation Army says it needs help from volunteers for its various holiday programs.
Producers: Beth Golay and Lu Anne Stephens
Editors: Beth Golay and Tom Shine
Contributors: Kylie Cameron, Celia Hack, Celia Llopis-Jepsen, Dylan Lysen, and Tom Shine
Theme music: Torin Andersen
Digital editor: Karlee Cooper