WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – Construction crews are on the ground at the former Park Elementary School in Wichita.
This week , some funding was approved to turn it into a homeless shelter and Multi-Agency Center (MAC) . However, funding to create affordable housing in the area is still up in the air.
City council members approved millions for the initial work to turn Park Elementary into the MAC and this season’s emergency winter shelter. However, the plan was to also build 50 affordable housing units on the Park Elementary site and 125 units at 10th and Topeka, a few blocks away. Parts of that plan are already falling through.
“(The affordable housing) would be designed for persons who need intensive wraparound services, and its proximity to the MAC is what makes that possible,” said Sally Stang, housing director for the City of Wichita.
The units would be for people who need more intensive support and face chronic homelessness.
Fifty units were on the elementary school grounds, and initially, another 125 units were a few blocks away. Those 125 units would cost $40 million to build.