City of Wichita looks at empty elementary building as possible homeless shelter

The city of Wichita, Kansas, is looking to buy a vacant elementary school building from the Wichita school district and use it as a facility to aid the homeless.

The Wichita Eagle reports that the Wichita City Council has approved an agreement with Wichita Public Schools that gives the city six months to decide whether to acquire the recently shuttered Park Elementary building for $1 and convert it into a homeless resources campus.

Over the next two months, city staff will be inspecting the property, assessing the costs associated with necessary upgrades, and taking steps to ensure that if the City Council chooses to exercise its option and buy the facility, it will be ready to accommodate an emergency winter shelter by mid-November.

A preliminary estimate says the city will need to invest $8 million into the property to transform it into the promised Multi-Agency Center, which will include congregate and non-congregate shelters, a navigation center for connecting people with resources and 50 affordable housing units on-site.

Park, which closed at the conclusion of the 2023-24 school year, opened in 1921 and was the oldest school operating in the district.