photo by: Shawn Valverde

The Lawrence Community Shelter, 3655 E. 25th St., is pictured on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023.

Voters in Lawrence are being asked to vote on a referendum that could raise the affordable housing sales tax from 0.05% to 0.10%, allowing some of the funds to pay for services to help persons experiencing homelessness.

The ballot initiative was approved by the City Commission in August as part of the budget discussions for 2025, as the Journal-World reported. The sales tax increase would add an extra nickel in tax to every $100 in purchases made by consumers in Lawrence. State law requires that all city sales tax increases be put to a citywide vote.

Currently, the city has a 0.05% affordable housing sales tax that voters approved back in 2017 that helps fund programs related to affordable housing. City Manager Craig Owens told the Journal-World the city received $1.25 million that it could spend on affordable housing. Maureen Brady, a city spokesperson for Lawrence, said with those funds, the city can acquire land for future affordable housing projects and invest in public/private partnerships that create affordable units.

The city began collecting the sales tax in April 2019, and since the referendum was passed to this year, the affordable housing trust fund has helped create over 700 affordable houses and apartments, according to Justice Matters, a grassroots, interfaith organization in Lawrence that helped get that tax passed.

If the referendum is approved, it would repeal the current 0.05% affordable housing sales tax that the city collects, and instead make it 0.10%, with the revenue equally divided between projects for affordable housing and homelessness services. The collection of that 0.10% tax would start on April 1, 2025. If the referendum is voted down, the current tax that funds housing projects would be left in place.

Owens said most of the funding for the city’s Homelessness Division, which last year had a budget of a little over $5.2 million, came from federal ARPA funds. Owens said passing the referendum will be “critical” for the city to build its capacity to respond to homelessness as part of “A Place For Everyone” — a combined effort from Lawrence and Douglas County with the aim of ending homelessness that called for $267 million in estimated spending in the next five years.

The 2024 point-in-time homeless count for Lawrence and Douglas County, which was completed earlier this year, was up 18% from last year, as the Journal-World reported. Although the numbers have increased, the city believes the increased funding and efforts led to “significant progress (for) building solutions” that helped people experiencing homelessness.

“We have recently started to see positive outcomes for the community as a result,” Brady said.

But the progress could be stymied if the referendum ends up failing. If passed, the homelessness and affordable housing tax would only allow the city to maintain its current service levels, according to Brady. If the referendum is voted down, the Homelessness Division would have a $1.25 million shortfall when it comes to emergency sheltering services.

​​Voters will decide the issue as part of the Nov. 5 general election. Voters have until Oct. 15 to register to vote in the election. Advance voting begins on Oct. 16.