photo by: Mike Yoder

Lawrence City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St., is pictured Thursday, July 7, 2016.

Lawrence city leaders will soon review the findings of a study that examined the issue of homelessness in the area as well as gaps in local social and support services.

As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will receive a presentation from the University of Kansas Center for Public Partnerships and Research on the 2021-2022 Douglas County Homelessness Interim Needs Assessment.

Douglas County commissioned the study, which included an assessment of the systemwide conditions related to homelessness and what is needed for the county and city to attain their goal of ending chronic homelessness, according to a city staff memo to the commission. The memo states that the needs assessment aims to present the current state of homelessness in the county and to help equip leaders with the knowledge needed to make investments to address homelessness permanently. The report represents the preliminary phase of information gathering and analysis for the needs assessment.

The Douglas County Commission received a presentation on the study’s findings last month. The study found in part that Black and Indigenous people in Douglas County experience homelessness at a much higher rate than the general population, and the county doesn’t currently have the right kinds of housing options to address its homelessness issues, as the Journal-World recently reported.

In other business, the commission will receive an update on the Field Operations Campus planned for eastern Lawrence. The city announced plans in 2020 to build a multimillion-dollar field operations campus that would span about 75 acres and could house operations of various divisions, including solid waste, streets and vehicle maintenance. In October 2021, the commission voted to make modifications to the plans in an effort to address concerns from neighbors about noise, traffic, odors and other disruptions. The commission was scheduled to receive the update last week, but the topic was rescheduled because that meeting had already lasted several hours.

The Lawrence City Commission will convene at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St. The public can participate in the meeting in person or online.