City Hall Declines To Provide Immediate Aid To reStart

A Kansas City Council committee on Wednesday declined to consider an emergency cash infusion for a struggling downtown homeless shelter, with the chairwoman saying she is awaiting financial figures she requested two years ago.

“We need to know what their plan is moving forward,” Councilwoman Katheryn Shields, who chairs the Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee, said of reStart Inc.s homeless shelter.

The committee had been set to consider payment of $250,000 in unappropriated general fund revenue to reStart, which operates a homeless shelter for single adults at 918 E. Ninth St. Shields postponed consideration of the request until its March 18 meeting.

Shields said she needed an explanation of how this city money will help “make them solvent into the future.”

Stephanie Boyer, CEO of reStart, said in an email to Flatland that the organization has “provided Council with past financial information as well as a current 2020 Budget. Any specific information requested will be provided.”

The homeless services agency revealed last week that it is phasing out its 90-bed shelter due to financial difficulties. The agency hopes to find alternative placements for residents that are left by the time it closes the doors in mid-March.

Boyer said reStart needs about $1 million in immediate funding to keep the beds open.

City officials said the request for city funding came from Councilman Brandon Ellington. The shelter is within his district. Ellington was not immediately available for comment.