City and County to share update on Housing and Homelessness Strategic Plan

At upcoming meetings of the Lawrence City Commission and Douglas County Commission, the City of Lawrence, Douglas County, and other members of the Housing and Homelessness stakeholder group will be sharing an update on the Housing and Homelessness Strategic Plan, which is called A Place for Everyone: A Community Plan to End Homelessness. 

The presentation to Douglas County Commission is this week, starting at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, June 28. You can join the meeting in-person or virtually via Zoom. Instructions are on the Douglas County website. The agenda is available online.

The presentation to Lawrence City Commission will be on Tuesday, July 11. The meeting will begin at 5:45 p.m. The agenda for the upcoming meeting will be published on Thursday, July 6. All Lawrence City Commission meetings are available to stream live online at lawrenceks.org/live. 

The Housing and Homelessness stakeholder group formed to develop a strategic planning framework that addresses homelessness and the need for affordable housing solutions throughout Douglas County. The objective of this work is to create a system in the next five years that achieves functional zero through policy, system, and environmental changes resulting in all Douglas County residents having access to the fundamental human right of safe, accessible, attainable, and affordable housing; and in which homelessness is a rare and brief occurrence.

The upcoming presentations follow the conclusion of a robust community engagement program to get feedback and input on the plan before it is finalized. The community engagement included five listening sessions: one virtual session, two in-person sessions and two sessions only for those with lived experience. 

All community members, and especially those who joined the listening sessions this spring, are encouraged to watch one or both upcoming presentations.