A new program has been launched in Kansas City, Missouri to provide housing and support services to 15 vulnerable families experiencing homelessness and involved in the child welfare system. Called KC One Roof, it is modeled on CSH’s Keeping Families Together supportive housing.
The KC One Roof initiative is a partnership between the Jackson County Children’s Division, the Housing Authority of Kansas City (HAKC), Truman Medical Centers, Community LINC, the Greater Kansas City Coalition to End Homelessness, CSH, and others.
These organizations participated as a team in CSH’s national One Roof learning collaborative. After HAKC dedicated 55 Family Unification Program (FUP) housing assistance vouchers to the effort, the team also was awarded in-depth technical assistance from CSH to continue planning.
Already seven families have received vouchers, and two families have been reunited in housing and are receiving services from one of two service provider partners, Truman Medical Center Behavioral Health and Community LINC.
Recently, the team presented to the Kansas City Child Abuse Prevention Legislative Roundtable, and in the words of Lori Fluegal from the National Child Protection Training Center, “I think this program is absolutely the right thing to do. So many of Jackson County’s families need both housing and services to achieve stability.”
The KC One Roof team is currently working to secure funding to support an additional 40 families as well as a program evaluation.
