The United Way of the Plains has announced that a $3.2 million federal grant will be awarded to the Coalition to End Homelessness in Sedgwick County.

The grant is from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and it will fund all projects currently supported in Sedgwick County.

The United Way is the leading agency for the coalition, which is made up of of nonprofit agencies, the faith community, government entities, businesses, and other community advocates.

Andy Houltberg, Coalition Chair and CEO of Breakthrough Episcopal Social Services, issued a statement saying “Homelessness has a simple solution: housing. This funding allows us to serve our most vulnerable unhoused neighbors through supportive services and directly housing them, from the street or from a shelter. However, while the solution is simple, the roadmap to preventing and ending homelessness across the full community takes the full community, not any one entity. The Coalition to End Homelessness strives every day to improve upon the work of the day before, committed to making homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring for all our neighbors.”

The Coalition listed the projects that will be funded in 2025 by the HUD grant:

• Catholic Charities – Rapid ReHousing: Provides short-term rental assistance and supportive services to unhoused households.
• City of Wichita – Housing First Evolution: Moves chronically homeless households into permanent housing and provides stability through indefinite rental assistance and supportive services.
• COMCARE of Sedgwick County – Shelter Plus Care: Provides rental assistance and supportive services through community partners to chronically homeless and disabled homeless households.
• HumanKind Ministries – Villa Central and Rapid ReHousing: Provides low-income housing units in an existing apartment building with supportive services for chronically homeless households, and short-term rental assistance and supportive services to unhoused households.
• Mental Health of America of South Central Kansas – Permanent Supportive Housing: Provides indefinite housing assistance through leased units and rental assistance for chronically homeless households and those with both a substance use disorder and a severe and persistent mental illness.
• Salvation Army of Wichita – Transitional and Rapid ReHousing: Provides rental assistance, transitional housing, and supportive services to unhoused families with children, couples, and single women.
• United Methodist Open Door – Family Rapid ReHousing: Provides short-term rental assistance and supportive services to unhoused families with children.
• United Way of the Plains – Continuum of Care Planning Project, Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), and Coordinated Entry: Ensures the coalition can share quality data across agencies, track progress to end homelessness and comply with grant requirements. Also helps the coalition to prioritize the most vulnerable homeless households for resources first.