Banking on KC – Stephanie Boyer of ReStart, Inc.
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Kelly Scanlon:
Welcome to Banking on KC. I'm your host, Kelly Scanlon. Thank you for joining us. With us on this episode is Stephanie Boyer, the CEO of reStart Inc., a local nonprofit that is working to lead Kansas Citians out of homelessness. Welcome, Stephanie. Thanks for being with us today.
Stephanie Boyer:
Yes, thank you so much for having me.
Kelly Scanlon:
Why don't we start by having you give us the background on homelessness in Kansas City. Who experiences it, why, what are the numbers like, kind of lay out the landscape.
Stephanie Boyer:
Unfortunately, over the last few years and since the pandemic, we've continued to see the numbers of people experiencing homelessness, not just in our community but across the country, continuing to increase, despite all of the additional dollars that have come in to help with rental assistance and all of those things over the last few years. Most recently, in January of this year, every January we do what's called a point in time count. And it's a required count for HUD. Every community has to do it and it helps determine how many HUD dollars come into your community.
So on a 24-hour period in January, we send teams out all across the community to literally count and speak to each of the people that we can find that are unsheltered and on the street. Unfortunately, this last January, we saw a 31% increase from last year to the number of people literally living on the street. And so that does not count the number of increases there might've been in shelter or in people that we just simply cannot find. Right? We know that we can't find everyone during that count, but to see such a significant increase again in this last count is pretty alarming.
Kelly Scanlon:
What is contributing to that?
Stephanie Boyer:
A number of things. So, continued rising cost of rent and utilities. Over the last year, we've seen 30 to 50% increases in rent rates for people. We've seen utility costs increase. There are so many families, working families, working households that are working minimum wage jobs that have sort of been barely making it. They've sort of been right on that fence of like, anything happens and they're going to be at risk of homelessness. And what we've seen happen over the course of the last three years, the rising cost of groceries, healthcare, utilities, rent, they just can simply no longer make it. We're just continuing to see more and more households that have been at risk for many years that are just really falling into homelessness.
Kelly Scanlon:
What are some of the other factors that in general contribute to the homeless population?
Stephanie Boyer:
So we also see things like violence. Domestic violence in particular is a huge cause, and there's a lot of talk about violence in our community too. And when you see that happen that also typically in a situation like that, someone in involved in that situation is likely at risk of or going to be homeless because of that as well. We do see things additionally, like mental health, substance use. The mental health and substance use is actually the smaller portion of it.
Kelly Scanlon:
Contrary to what a lot of people think. Yeah.
Stephanie Boyer:
Exactly. Yes. What we actually see is that it's not until someone becomes homeless that then the trauma from the homelessness leads to increased mental health and substance use. So, it's particularly for unsheltered people. It's very unsafe to be on the street, and so you need to stay awake to keep yourself safe, if you cannot find a safe place to stay that night, which often leads to people using substances to keep themselves awake to stay safe. It's a vicious cycle.
Does the lack of access to mental healthcare have an impact? Absolutely, it does. And I think we've also seen that, right? It's been a problem for a really long time. Over the last three years, we've seen the majority of people of all levels seeking mental health care.
Kelly Scanlon:
And the pandemic in particular played a really big role in that. So, what is reStart's role in all of this?
Stephanie Boyer:
So, we're a nonprofit that's here to serve people both at risk of and currently experiencing homelessness. So we see our goal as really working individually with people to figure out, what's going on? What happened, what led you to this, and how do we assist you in getting out of it? So our goal is to make sure that we are not just band-aiding people every day. That we are really working individually, closely with each household to figure out what that looks like to get them back into a safe, stable housing situation.
Kelly Scanlon:
Because like you said, many of these are people who were either previously working and perhaps lost a job or they are still currently working but just cannot afford the going rates. So, who do you serve? Is there a particular sector of the homeless population that you serve? Or do you try to serve whoever comes to your door seeking services?
Stephanie Boyer:
So we serve everyone, which makes us a little bit unique, in that there's no one that we don't serve. And we serve youth, we have kids that age out of foster care. That's also a way that a lot of young people are ending up in homelessness. They're aging out foster care into that. We serve families, we serve singles, we serve veterans, we serve everyone. Sometimes agencies kind of only focus on youth or only focus on... And we do that work through that kind of entire continuum. So, we do that prevention side from helping people with rental assistance. Sometimes it's just even landlord mediation of there's something going on. And so if we can get in and help mitigate that, we can salvage that and keep people housed. That's our goal. But then we have street outreach teams that are out in the street working with folks. We have our shelter programs, we have transitional living programs, and then we have permanent housing programs.
And so every program has case management and wraparound support services of behavioral health and employment tied to it. So we really have a pretty unique lens, especially because it's very holistic and we're catching people in different stages of what that looks like. So, we might have some people we're working with that are brand new to homelessness. And then on the other end of the spectrum, I might have someone that's been struggling with homelessness for 30 or 40 years.
Kelly Scanlon:
What regions do you serve? The entire metro or specific area?
Stephanie Boyer:
Yeah. We serve most of the metro, predominantly Jackson County and Wyandotte County is where most of our funding dictates where we're serving. We do have some of our youth street outreach in Johnson County, Kansas as well.
Kelly Scanlon:
How does someone who is homeless, perhaps living in a car or on the street, how do they even know about you?
Stephanie Boyer:
A lot of times, word of mouth. People are asking or working with another organization potentially, where they might be seeking some kind of services, whether they might be going somewhere to get food. Our street outreach team is also out in the community, so their job is they go to libraries, they go to parks. They have a whole team that's very holistic, that has the police department, has community paramedics, it has behavioral health teams. It has everyone so that when they go out, especially into larger encampments, they can really look at what's going on and try to be helping people with what's happening today. So, they're really out there trying to locate the people.
Families and young people stay more hidden. They may be in a car or in and out of a hotel, if they have enough money one night for a hotel and then back in the car somewhere. They can sometimes be more difficult to find in that way because of their fear. They're fearful they may lose their children, and so they're not always ready to just put themselves out there, until they can really trust that it's going to be safe and that they're not going to lose their children.
Kelly Scanlon:
And then you have the whole issue of perhaps trying to keep them in school.
Stephanie Boyer:
Yes.
Kelly Scanlon:
Because as soon as they're not coming to school, that raises a lot of alarm bells as well, and probably reinforces their fear of having the children taken away from them.
Stephanie Boyer:
Absolutely. Yeah. So we work really hard to reassure them, we're not going to be calling anyone. We're going to have a case manager though that's going to help you with all those things. So we're going to work with the school to figure out how to get your kid back and forth to school. So because of the McKinney-Vento Act that was passed many years ago, schools do have to provide transportation for kids to their district. So our main location's at Ninth and Harrison, but we're supporting households from all over the metro. So we may be getting kids to school in the Northland and Raytown out of Olathe. They're coming and going from everywhere.
Kelly Scanlon:
You start with an assessment, you said, and then where does it go from there? Do you work with other agencies to try to perhaps find shelter or provide the skills that they need or perhaps legal representation that they need to get them out of a certain situation? Explain how all that works.
Stephanie Boyer:
So as the case manager kind of sits down and goes through that assessment, we're really looking at all those different life domains, and what are the needs. And so we're looking at and figuring out, what can we provide in that, and then who are our partners in the community, or what's the best resource in the community that we know that can help address X, Y, or Z for you? And then the case manager's job is to sort of be that broker, to make sure that they're making that connection and getting them connected to those things that are going to be addressing very holistically, with our primary focus though focused around housing. Because until folks have a safe, stable place to live, it's really difficult to try to stay engaged in those other things. Right?
Kelly Scanlon:
Oh, absolutely. You mentioned the affordability of housing. So aside from that, what are the barriers to safe and sustainable housing?
Stephanie Boyer:
So oftentimes for households, especially low and extremely low income households that we're working with, there are additional things like they may have past evictions on their record. So they already have the affordability hurdle to get over, but they've been working, they have income, but now they have these past utilities they owe, past eviction, things that might be on someone's record to be able to get over as well. So oftentimes there's not just one hurdle, there might be three or four hurdles in what that looks like. And that's where relationships for us with landlords and housing providers are really critical. And we need local landlords. And we're seeing a lot of local landlords leave and out-of-state owners are coming in. And we don't love to see it, honestly, because-
Kelly Scanlon:
Well, the relationship's harder.
Stephanie Boyer:
Yes, the relationship's so much harder. And we need them to be our partner in that. And when we can develop those relationships, we can work closely with them and say, "Listen, I know they have this on their background. Here's what we're doing to take care of it. We're going to stay in there. Our case manager's going to be helping with these things. If anything starts to go awry, all you have to do is call us. We're going to be here to support them and to support you." And that's how we can help make a change in what that really looks like.
Kelly Scanlon:
reStart has been around for 40 years. When I read that, I thought, "Wow, this has just been a chronic problem." So has the situation changed at all, over the 40-year period? What are you seeing that may be different from homelessness 40 years ago, or is it pretty much the same?
Stephanie Boyer:
It's changed a lot. When reStart first began 43 years ago, it was in the basement of a church. It was simply just an overnight shelter for men. Because 43 years ago, that's really the face of homelessness and who you saw really struggling with homelessness.
Kelly Scanlon:
And I think it's still what people think.
Stephanie Boyer:
It is.
Kelly Scanlon:
Popular culture, that's still the image people hold in their minds.
Stephanie Boyer:
Yes. And it's really because that is the face you have seen consistently for those 43 years. And that's who you might run into on the street or who you might see that you might think that that person might be experiencing homelessness. But it's changed a lot. The face of that has changed a lot, hence why reStart has been an organization that's grown so much over these years, and now do all these different programs with all these different populations.
So what we have seen is that continued increase in young people, particularly kids aging out of foster care, and in families, and then again in elderly people. So those are the three that I would say we continue to see and have seen probably over the last 20 years, but definitely the last 10 years, I would say significant increases in what those look like.
Kelly Scanlon:
And you have specific programs that focus particularly on those different populations?
Stephanie Boyer:
We have a number of youth programs. So, we have a youth emergency shelter. Those are kids 12 to 17. So those kids have either left home on their own or they've been removed from the home, a lot of times because of abuse or neglect. But a lot of times, they're leaving home on their own. A lot of kids in that age range we see too, have come out to their family, that they might be in the LGBTQ community and it hasn't gone well. And so, they've sought out a place for safety. Again, that's 12 to 17 year olds.
And then we have our Youth Transitional Living Program, which is for 16 to 21 year olds. And so, that's a longer term program. Those kids can live with us for up to 18 months. So, it really is about building those life skills. It has sort of a lot more focus, building those life skills, really preparing them to be ready to live on their own.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yes. You mentioned that they could stay with you for up to 18 months. Do you actually provide housing yourself? Talk with us about that.
Stephanie Boyer:
I think that's one of the myths. A lot of times if people know about reStart, they're like, "Oh yeah, you have a homeless shelter." That's actually the smallest portion of what we do. So yes, we do run shelter, but we are more focused about housing, about preventing people from falling into it. So, it's saving people's housing and then getting people back into housing. So, that transitional piece and then that permanent housing piece.
So we're working with them, they're required to be in school or working while they're in that program. We're teaching them how to save, we're preparing them for what life's going to be like to actually live on your own, with health and safety of us. And so connecting them to all the resources that they might need, helping them save, learn how to work a budget.
Kelly Scanlon:
So when you talk about housing some of these different populations, you actually have cottage housing development. Tell us about that.
Stephanie Boyer:
So, we're really excited about it. So we've sort of this last year, as all of these things have happened and as we've continued to see the challenge that so many people are facing and that literally we have the people, they have income, we just need to have housing that matches what that looks like. So last year, we really took a deep dive into who are we as an organization and said, "We're about ending homelessness." And the only way you do that is by housing people. And so we said, "Okay, let's do more development. Let's be a co-developer and let's be an owner of more properties so that we can secure those properties for our community. And we can say, 'We're committed to long-term affordability here.'"
And so we have developed an LLC called Upstart, in which will serve under reStart at this time, to do housing development. And so our initial project is, we have developed some single family homes that are a cottage style. It's a cottage code. It's actually a very old code. Used to be built a long time ago when people lived in 800 to 1,200 square foot homes.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah. Much smaller homes. It raised large families too.
Stephanie Boyer:
Yeah, exactly. There were a lot of people in those little spaces, right?
Kelly Scanlon:
Yes.
Stephanie Boyer:
And so, we've wanted to create a housing opportunity that's not multifamily, that is a single family home, that also we can come into communities that have a lot of vacant land that need housing put back and need people brought back to their communities. And so it's sort of a twofold, we feel like. We're accomplishing our goal of creating housing that's going to be affordable to those low and extremely low income households, while working in neighborhoods to bring people back to that neighborhood.
Kelly Scanlon:
So revitalization of the neighborhood as well. Have you built any of these yet or are you still in the development stages?
Stephanie Boyer:
We're in the development stages. We are hoping to break ground in September on our first five houses. We have a goal to do a hundred over the next 10 years around the metro, so we'll be working in various neighborhoods. We're excited about it for so many reasons, and I just can't wait for people to see it and kind of understand it. So we have a one, two, and three bedroom design. And essentially we can take three lots where there were once three houses and we can put back five houses. So we can create a small amount of density, but we're not completely changing the neighborhood. We're not dropping 50 units of a multifamily right in the smack dap middle of a block. We want to be able to bring back that opportunity and help to show people too and to build a path forward to homeownership for low-income households as well. That's the best way to control your rent, is to be a homeowner. Right?
Kelly Scanlon:
Exactly. Really, what is affordable housing? It could mean different things to different people.
Stephanie Boyer:
Absolutely.
Kelly Scanlon:
What's your take on that?
Stephanie Boyer:
Yes, I love this topic because I think everyone has in their mind when they hear it, they have something in mind.
Kelly Scanlon:
Probably from their own perspective too.
Stephanie Boyer:
Exactly, yes. From their own perspective. Unfortunately, I think a lot of people when you say, "Oh, you're going to do affordable housing.", they think of the worst projects type situation that they could ever think of. And that's absolutely not what it is. Affordable housing is a variety of things, and it is about affordability to various income levels.
So, HUD says that no household should spend more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities or a mortgage and utilities, regardless of what your income is. So if your income's $20,000 a year or your income's $200,000 a year, you should not spend more than 30%. Because if you do, you've potentially put yourself out of balance and at risk of homelessness, if a dynamic were to change in your household, the loss of a job, something major with health, any of those types of things. So it is about creating housing that's affordable in each one of those income levels. And that low and extremely low income household has just been historically the income level that not enough housing has been built for that affordability for that income level.
Kelly Scanlon:
So there's a scarcity issue in addition to... Well, the scarcity issue helps drive the affordability.
Stephanie Boyer:
The latest information from HUD for our metro area is that there's a need for 27,000 units.
Kelly Scanlon:
Right here in Kansas City?
Stephanie Boyer:
Right here in Kansas City, for that low and extremely low income household. So this is not people that don't have an income, they do have an income. And I think that's also a myth that people have. And these are folks working minimum wage jobs. And without them working those jobs, lots of things will fall apart in our city. And so I think it's incredibly important that we look at that and say, "How do we invest in housing for that income level to ensure that those folks have a safe, stable place to live so they can also be in a good place to show up to work every day?"
Kelly Scanlon:
How are you funded?
Stephanie Boyer:
So we're predominantly funded through federal funding, through HUD and HHS, which is Health and Human Services. We're probably about 85% federally funded, and then I would say private foundations locally pretty much come into play then next. And then city and county and then individuals and the faith-based community.
Kelly Scanlon:
You have an event coming up called the Road Home Event in a couple of months. Tell us about that.
Stephanie Boyer:
Yes, we're very excited about this. So we have been working with an artist named, Randy Bacon, out of Springfield, Missouri. He's one of the most amazing humanitarian artists who captures art through photography, storytelling, and videography. He has come in and he has taken photo, video, and captured story of 17 different people who have been through our programs. And so, we've really captured various populations of people with different backgrounds and how they got there and how they got out of homelessness.
And so, we are creating an exhibit, which will be hosted at the Kansas City Museum starting in November. And it will be there for six months. And so, we'll really be focusing on driving people there to go through that experience. And we hope that it will really be a way for people to come in and really learn, and to hear the stories and to understand how and why this happens, who it happens to, and how people get out of it and how people can help.
Kelly Scanlon:
You're obviously making an impact, but there have to be days, especially when you do evaluation or your number count in January and you find out that homelessness in Kansas City has jumped 30% over the previous year. You have to feel like sometimes it's just pushing that rock up the hill, Sisyphus that keeps on falling back down. Do you see an opportunity for getting those numbers down? What do you think it's going to take to get the numbers down?
Stephanie Boyer:
I do think it's possible, and I really think it's possible in this community in particular. I think that Kansas City is such a giving community, and I think that people care. And I think people want to be involved and want to figure out how to help, and how to help in the best way. But I think we're in a unique place to say, "Okay, how do we make sure it stops? We've already seen these increases, let's stop the increases. So, how do we do that?"
And coming together, and there are over 2 million people in this metro. I just envision all kinds of ways that we can make this happen. And that literally, if we can just match up some households that have the opportunity to help another household, what a beautiful thing, and how easy could it be? And there are plenty of people in our community that can likely do that to really be there. Because often what we see is sometimes it's a few hundred dollars that people need to gather everyone's birth certificate to be able to make the application to housing, but they don't have the hundred dollars today, or the $200 today. Or to pay off $2,000 of an old utility or an eviction that gets them over that hurdle. And that hurdle's done and down and now they can move forward. It's all of those small pieces that it's just going to take for us all working together.
Kelly Scanlon:
And how can our listeners who are interested in reaching out to you or getting involved somehow with reStart, what's the best way to do that?
Stephanie Boyer:
So definitely check out our website, restartinc.org, come and volunteer with us. I always encourage people to start there, to come and volunteer. Because in that volunteer experience, you're going to experience something personally with someone that we're serving most likely. And you are going to make your own personal connection. And when someone can make their own personal connection to someone and to a family, to a story, it changes how people want to get involved and interact in this situation.
Becoming a monthly donor is amazing, but coming in and getting started in that way, volunteering. Of course, coming to our event in November, bringing people to that, and we're going to have a lot of conversations at the museum around that. So, inviting people to that so that we can gain more understanding with one another about what's really going on, and how do we work together to solve this problem?
Kelly Scanlon:
Restartinc.org. Go check it out, and be sure to look for announcements about the upcoming event in November at the Kansas City Museum. Thank you so much, Stephanie, for being here today and for all you do in the community.
Stephanie Boyer:
Thank you.
Joe Close:
This is Joe Close, President of Country Club Bank. Thank you to Stephanie Boyer for being our guest on this episode of Banking on KC. Homelessness cuts across demographics. As a number of unhoused individuals has increased during the past few decades, the face of homelessness has changed to include working families and the elderly. Still, Stephanie is optimistic. Spreading the word about homelessness and increasing awareness of it helps promote the action and change necessary to fight the battle against it.
One opportunity we all have for expanding our awareness of homelessness is coming up in November at the Kansas City Museum, which will house a six-month exhibit by artist Randy Bacon called The Road Home. It's designed to help communities gain a better understanding of the causes of homelessness, who it happens to, and how people get out of it. Most importantly, you'll learn how you can help. Thanks for tuning in this week. We're Banking on You, Kansas City. Country Club Bank member FDIC.