Based on where you’re standing, Wichita’s first 24/7, year-round homeless shelter, now located in a sprawling red-brick, former school building, can look very different.
From the chair of an organizer, the emerging one-stop shop, known as Second Light, is the next chapter in the story of Wichita’s efforts to address homelessness. Almost everybody agrees it can be a lifesaver, a haven not just from the cold of the winter but also from late spring thunderstorms and oppressive summer heat.
The people who sleep there would like more of the services they’ve been assured would be offered and better conditions inside the shelter. Their perspectives vary; they are disabled, able-bodied, white, Black, young and senior citizens…