COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR ORDINANCE NO. 210445

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Authorizing the City Manager to enter into contracts with Merging KC, Inc. for construction and associated services of Verge--A Pallet Community, that will consist of temporary shelters for approximately 200 beds and related offices for security, medial and other services; appropriating $1,700,000.00 from the Unappropriated Fund Balance of the General Fund; designating requisitioning authority; approving a substantial amendment to the 2020 One Year Action Plan to reprogram funding; recognizing this ordinance as having an accelerated effective date; and waiving the solicitation requirements of Chapter 3.

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WHEREAS, Kansas City is the hometown to as many as 1700 people in the houseless community, according to Project Homeless Connect Kansas City, with 370 people under the age of 18; and

WHEREAS, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the public health issue by exponentially increasing job loss and financial struggle, particularly in communities of color and for those living at or near the poverty threshold as established by the United States' Department of Health and Human Services; and

WHEREAS, the intersecting and sometimes competing costs of housing and health create an undue burden on our city's poorest and most vulnerable residents; and

WHEREAS, spending public dollars to mitigate the effects of houselessness on the entire community serves a legitimate public purpose; and

WHEREAS, in accordance with Resolution No. 210316 the City Manager has identified ways to extend and expand hotel, motel, and other livable spaces arrangements for unhoused persons in Kansas City; and

WHEREAS, the Council acknowledges this agreement is meant to serve as a transitional housing community with a goal of preparing clients for long-term permanent housing; and

WHEREAS, through Ordinance No. 210392 adopting the City's stimulus spending plan, RecoverKC, the...

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