photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

The Drop In and Rest Center, 944 Kentucky St., is pictured Friday, March 29, 2024.

At the Drop In and Rest Center for the homeless, clients currently have just 800 square feet of space available to do their laundry, take showers and access other needed resources, all within limited hours of operation on weekday afternoons.

The new leader at the agency commonly known as DARE — the rest and resource center at 944 Kentucky St. — is looking to change that. Work is underway that could result in DARE having access to thousands of additional square feet of space, and also being capable of offering much broader hours of operation.

“We’re doing the best we can over there with 800 square feet; people are literally on top of each other,” Executive Director Brett Hartford told the Journal-World Friday.

photo by: Contributed

Brett Hartford

DARE is currently only authorized to provide services in the smaller portion of the building, but there are actually two 2,000-square-foot sections on the main level plus a basement that currently sit unused. Hartford said he’s aiming within the next year to take the necessary steps to open up the majority of the building, which could become home to a new resource access center and expanded shower and laundry facilities.

To do that, though, DARE needs a new special use permit that covers the whole building at 944 Kentucky St., not just the smaller portion the agency has had access to so far. Hartford said he’s currently in the process of applying for the new permit.

Beyond allowing access to much more physical space, the new permit would have an additional benefit. The current permit only allows DARE to be open Monday through Friday from 2 to 6 p.m. The agency isn’t open on Wednesdays, which are instead used as work days, leaving only 16 hours a week when clients can access services.

That greatly limits the number of people DARE can serve, Hartford said, a point of frustration when many overnight guests at the Lawrence Community Shelter across town have to leave the shelter after 7 a.m. and don’t have anywhere to go until the shelter begins intake for the next night at 7 p.m.

“It leaves people with a large gap of time between getting exited and being able to get back in there,” Hartford said.

The new permit would instead cover six days a week and allow DARE to be open 10 hours per day, Hartford said. Along with the new permit, he’s also creating a dedicated nonprofit for DARE — the agency is currently operating as a program of the Coalition for Homeless Concerns — and working with the building’s landlord to ensure DARE’s lease would keep the agency there for the long run.

At the same time, Hartford said DARE is currently serving 220 unique visitors each month and has increased its volunteer base to 55 per month, up 50% over the past four months. But he said there are more reasons for the expansion than simply keeping up with or increasing the agency’s current level of service.

“There’s two reasons behind the drive for this,” Hartford said.

First, “people shouldn’t have to sit at a bus stop to get access to a bathroom and then face all the danger that comes there, like our friend Vincent (Lee Walker) that got murdered,” Hartford said, referring to a man who was fatally shot across the street from the Lawrence Public Library on March 6.

“And two, we just need more space for people to be intentional about not needing to have all the answers, but being ‘allowed to be,'” Hartford said.

Currently, DARE is 100% privately funded, but Hartford said he plans to apply for funds through the City of Lawrence and Douglas County’s processes for external agencies, and also to look for other funding partners for the project. Hartford estimated it’ll take anywhere from $100,000 to $200,000 to properly remodel the property, which he’s optimistic about achieving within the next year.

“Right now, our biggest focuses are earning public trust that we can create a safe space and getting people in here to see what we look like,” Hartford said.

• • •

On Friday, Hartford showed the Journal-World one of the 2,000-square-foot spaces where he hopes DARE will house the resource access center. There are already lockers in the space, which he said DARE could rent out for people to store their belongings. Additionally, he described plans to convert parts of this portion of the building into a conference room, a computer lab and dedicated office spaces for partner agencies.

photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

These lockers stored in a 2,000-square-foot portion of 944 Kentucky St. that currently isn’t in use are eventually planned to be available for clients at the Drop In and Rest Center.

Hartford is currently piloting the concept through a new community resource office in DARE’s current space. That office is home to a different agency every day that DARE is open — the groups that use it are the Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition, Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center’s homeless outreach team, Heartland Community Health Center and Heartland RADAC.

Hartford said that’s supposed to be a “proof of concept” for the expansion, as well as an example of the kind of collaboration he’s trying to foster with other agencies.

“… If we bring resources to people instead of giving them a piece of paper and saying ‘Go find this person or this drop-in hour or this other organization some other place,’ if we can bring those resources to people, there’s a lot higher opportunity that people are going to get the help they’re looking for,” Hartford said.

photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

This is one of three rooms planned to be converted into office spaces for partner agencies in a currently unused 2,000-square-foot portion of 944 Kentucky St.

Hartford said he sees DARE as a place that should avoid replicating services that other agencies are already doing well.

One example Hartford mentioned is a clothing closet. Though DARE does receive daily clothing donations that are quickly claimed, he said he doesn’t think DARE should expand that particular resource when there are already agencies like the Ballard Center that operate much more robust clothing and food pantries.

Instead, he said he sees his agency’s role as a supporter for other services in the community that can help to fill in the gaps when clients have a need another agency might not be able to fill.

“I don’t want to replicate services,” Hartford said. “I don’t want to be case manager for people that already have case management. … There are a lot of really great organizations in town doing great work, but I want to make sure that we’re catching every single person.”

photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

This space is slated to house a computer area for clients at the Drop In and Rest Center.

There is one other place Hartford wants to make better use of that especially relates to the “Drop In and Rest” concept — the outdoor area behind the building. He said he envisioned partnering with local churches to put up tents and serve coffee or frozen treats for guests who wish to spend time gathering outside the building, an alternative to the sidewalk out front.

“We’re going to fix up this area in the next month or so just to make it kinder and more inviting, and then we’ve got tables and chairs and tents to put out here during the day so people have more places to sit and rest and just be,” Hartford said.

photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

The Drop In and Rest Center plans to clean up and utilize space behind the building later this year, likely during warmer weather. The portion of the building pictured here is an additional 2,000-square-foot area that the agency hopes to expand into down the line.