photo by: Bremen Keasey/Journal-World

Lawrence's City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St., as seen on Monday, April 6, 2026.

City leaders will vote next week on whether to claw back $558,000 in affordable housing funding from Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center after it stepped away from a supportive housing project.

The funding was awarded to Bert Nash from the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund in 2023 and 2024 for a permanent supportive housing project near the intersection of Sixth Street and Rockledge Road. However, the project was indefinitely paused in January, and Bert Nash CEO Kirsten Watkins said in March that the center would be stepping away from it.

On Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will consider invoking the funding agreements’ clawback provision, which the Affordable Housing Advisory Board recommended in March. The clawback provision lets the city recover the funds from Bert Nash if construction doesn’t begin on schedule or contractual obligations aren’t met. The project had a Feb. 2, 2026, deadline to begin construction, and work had not begun by that point.

“Invoking the clawback provision will recover $558,000 for reinvestment in other affordable housing initiatives,” a report from city staff to the City Commission reads. The report says the city could negotiate a repayment plan with Bert Nash “if appropriate.”

The project that Bert Nash was planning would have been a 43,000-square-foot facility to serve low-income people who have serious mental illnesses. It would have had an office for case managers and other staff members and two dozen single-room apartment units sitting on top of it.

In March, the Journal-World reported that it wasn’t clear what the project’s future might be. While Bert Nash wouldn’t be associated with it, there were discussions about other ways it could still happen, including turning the entire project over to Douglas County.

In other business, commissioners will:

• Have a discussion with the chair of the Historic Resources Commission about its responsibilities and how they align with the City Commission. City commissioners requested this discussion in February.

• Hear a presentation from the city’s finance department about its policies and procedures for purchasing and accounts payable. The presentation is for informational purposes only.

• Receive Parks, Recreation and Culture’s monthly rec center memberships report. The department sold 820 memberships in March, including both annual and monthly memberships, and it has reached 52% of its revenue estimate for the year from memberships, day passes and punch cards.

The Lawrence City Commission meets at 4 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St., for an earlier-than-usual executive session to evaluate city manager candidates. The regular meeting is expected to resume around 5:45 p.m. or “as soon thereafter as possible,” city staff previously said.