Amidst the visible crisis of homelessness in Lawrence, frustrations are brewing behind the scenes as Johnny’s Tavern and 25 other businesses have convened to sue the city for the disruptiveness of the homelessness city-managed camp, New Beginnings, which has bled into their private properties and the public right of way.
“The amount of visible homelessness has continued to demonstrate to folks that this is a crisis and the fact that we have people visibly living on the streets in Lawrence, Kansas, for 99% of the people that I speak with, we all are in agreement that’s unacceptable,” Director of City Communications Cori Wallace said.
As public camping is only allowed in approved areas, the New Beginnings camp was set up to temporarily consolidate resources for the unhoused before creating a more permanent solution. However some residents, like the owner of restaurant chain Johnny’s Tavern Rick Renfro, do not feel like they were adequately warned before the camp was established behind their properties.
“The city is allowing dozens of people to camp illegally on city-owned land. The city is trespassing by setting up a trailer, fencing and tents on land the city does not own,” according to Renfro’s statement regarding the lawsuit.
After the “temporary camp” remained for over 14 months, Renfro said he felt pushed to sue. Ultimately the lawsuit was filed with the 25 other business and property owners in December 2023. The camp put new pressures on Renfro and his employees were not prepared to deal with Johnny’s Tavern suddenly averaging five emergency calls per day according to him.
“As far as I’m concerned, there’s no end in sight until you get some pressure on this whole homeless issue as a worldwide, statewide, city-wide issue,” Renfro said.
While the 26 suers and the city are in the litigation phase, the City of Lawrence still works to manage the camp and lower the occupancy down from 145 to just 45 tents by redirecting individuals to Lawrence Community Shelter (LCS) and other temporary housing options.
“It is important for the community to also understand that homelessness is a downstream result of other issues. Homelessness is a symptom or result of other social and cultural issues that we are not addressing,” Bert Nash Center Housing Director Mathew Faulk said.
As a long-term solution for the unhoused crisis, Douglas County and organizations like Bert Nash worked to form an action plan called “A Place For Everyone.” The goal is to organize within the community and other Kansas governing bodies to increase supportive and affordable housing by 2028.
“This plan represents the community’s initial attempts at identifying primary needs and creating a comprehensive strategy to address those needs with the intention of achieving the outcome of significantly reducing the incidence of homelessness within the community,” Faulk said.
