Specialized Staff Serving Influx of Homeless Library Patrons

People experiencing homelessness in Kansas City often find refuge in public libraries when shelter options are limited during the day. However, metro-area library systems also provide assistance that goes beyond temporary protection from the weather. 

In fact, the Kansas City Public Library has built an entire department around helping the city’s unhoused, providing a range of services that focus on serving this niche group of patrons.

Located in a large dedicated area on the third floor of the Central Library downtown, the Community Resources Department has four full-time employees, including social workers who offer one-on-one guidance to unhoused patrons.

Picking Up the Slack

The library created the department in response to the growing number of unhoused people living in the communities served by the library, and the dearth of city-driven solutions to end homelessness in Kansas City, said Community Resources Manager Beth Hill.

For some, the library has become a “de facto shelter,” she said. “At the end of the day, on any given day, if you want, if you need a place to be, it’s the library.”

A report released last year by the U.S. Department of Housing showed that, at 95.7%, the Kansas City area had the highest share of people experiencing chronic homelessness living outside and not in some kind of shelter than any other major U.S. city. 

As of March 1, the city expanded capacity in four low-barrier shelters. The additional 100 beds came as part of a collaboration with providers in the city’s Zero KC strategic plan to end homelessness, said Mayor Quinton Lucas.

In Johnson County, the city of Lenexa approved expanded capacity to 50 beds at the county’s only homeless shelter, Project 1020.

Socks and Snacks

Area shelters generally require those who spend the night to leave every morning, as early as 7 a.m., which puts people experiencing homelessness on the streets until the evening.

That’s one reason Randy, 68, was at Community Resources recently.

“It’s a place to spend the day after getting out of the shelter,” he said, explaining that he walks to the Central Library most every day from the downtown shelter where he’s been staying for several months. 

At the library, the former office assistant said he enjoys using the computer to learn more about topics and pursuits he’s interested in, such as stop-action animation used in VR content. “I keep a positive attitude,” he added, before heading back to the shelter.

In addition to computers, patrons at the library get access to bathrooms, water, phone chargers, and wifi, and at the library’s Community Resources department they can get socks, hygiene products, and snacks.

Further, Community Resources staff regularly connect patrons with food pantries, shelters, clothes, showers, and medical services, and help navigate government programs, fill out paperwork, and make phone calls.

Patrons often need a copy of their birth certificate, which is required to apply for a Social Security card or SNAP (food stamps), but there is a fee charged by a county or city for the records request.  If a patron doesn’t have an agency-issued voucher to cover it, the department is fortunate to have privately donated funds to use for that purpose, Hill said.

Other High-Needs Branches

Community Resources will send staff to any branch as needed, but a staff member makes weekly visits to Northeast and Westport branches, which are located in areas with large homeless populations.

Out of respect for patron privacy, Hill said, the department tracks how many people it serves by counting interactions instead of individuals coming in. While numbers vary as weather shifts, the department logs hundreds of interactions a month.

Frigid temperatures drove 660 interactions in January, and there were 517 in February. Last year’s peak of 800 interactions came in August, which recorded the summer’s highest temperatures.

Mission Alignment

U.S. public libraries have long provided access to information and resources to all comers and adapted offerings to align with changing needs and populations. 

“People experiencing poverty or homelessness constitute a significant portion of users in many libraries today and this population provides libraries with an important opportunity to change lives,” the American Library Association said on its website.

Along with the Kansas City Public Library, the Johnson County Library and the Mid-Continent Public Library have added specialized staff or training aimed at helping residents experiencing homelessness.

Johnson County and Mid-Continent library officials said they typically see the largest numbers of unhoused customers coming to branches on busy bus routes, including Grandview, Blue Ridge and Independence in Missouri, and Lenexa City Center and Central Resources in Kansas.

‘Connectors,’ Job Fairs, Training

But Emily Becker, community relations manager at Mid-Continent Library, noted the district covers a wide service area, with 43 branches in Jackson, Clay and Platte counties, and that unhoused customers are also at rural and suburban branches.

Mid-Continent created a Community Specialist Coordinator (CSC) position to serve as a “connector” for customers who face particular challenges such as housing and food insecurity. 

The system has three CSCs, who are trained in trauma-informed care and crisis care service, one each at the Grandview, Blue Ridge, and South Independence branches.

“We see a lot of different kinds of ways to live,” said Grandview CSC Morgan Perry.

Whether they’re trying to locate an overnight shelter or seeking help with paperwork, customers come in with a range of needs, and are often in crisis mode, Perry said.

“We can meet with people in a private room to tell their story, particularly if a person has experienced not being heard,” she said.

In Johnson County, the library works with local groups and county and city officials to help serve the needs of the community’s unhoused populations, including United Community Services of Johnson County (UCS).

The Central Resource Library offers events and programming with the community in mind, such as job resource fairs, said Adam Wathen, associate director of branch services.

In addition to being located on the public transit line, the Central Resource Library is a regular drop-off point for people coming from the Project 1020 shelter. 

“We’ve done some additional staff training on working with those populations,” said Elissa Andre, the library’s marketing and communications manager. The training covers several areas,  from learning to better identify customer needs, without making assumptions, to de-escalation tactics.

“We never know what someone wants when they’re walking through the door,” said Wathen. “They may be unhoused but that may not be the problem they want to solve today.”

National Models

When developing the Community Resources department, Kansas City library staff and leaders tapped their years of first-hand experience with unhoused communities and the expertise of those at the Denver Public Library, which has a well-developed program for serving the unhoused. 

The library continues to work with Denver as well as with similarly constructed Community Services departments at the San Francisco Public Library, which is noted as having the first of its kind in the country, and the Washington, D.C., library, Hill said.

One of Community Resources’ first programs, started when it was operating out of Central Library’s basement, is “Coffee and Conversation.” Held the fourth Wednesday of each month, the event allows patrons to have breakfast, get personal care items and access resources.

“We invite partner agencies to come and set up tables and make themselves available to our patrons,” Hill said. “Then we have a guest speaker from a nonprofit who would like to come talk about what their services are and how patrons can access them.”

Publications and Partnerships

Community Resources staff communicate regularly with local organizations and agencies to stay informed on services available for its patrons, including for a handout listing shelters and free meals closest to Central Library and a more extensive guide in the quarterly “Street Sheet.”

Further, the library partners with a local agency for its Peer Navigation program, which provides two certified peer specialists — trained in de-escalation techniques and trauma informed care — at the Bluford branch. In certain instances, the peer navigators can also transport a patron to a doctor’s appointment or other services. 

Devon, 26, who was homeless in Phoenix for six months before moving to the Kansas City area, said he’s been coming to Central Resources every day since he started staying at a downtown Kansas City shelter. 

He appreciates being able to charge his phone and welcomes the department’s guidance, including help updating his resume for a job search.

On a recent afternoon, he sat tucked away in a corner making calls, several feet away from the dozen or so patrons on the sofas and chairs in the department’s center space.

Once off the phone and about to head back to the shelter, he happily shared, “I have a job interview on Wednesday.”