photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

The Pallet 24 cabins are pictured behind the Lawrence Community Shelter, 3655 E. 25th St., on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025.

Douglas County staff will be briefing commissioners on progress, next steps and challenges for the community’s five-year strategic plan to that aims to make local homelessness, at its worst, a “rare and brief occurrence.”

The joint five-year city-county plan to end chronic homelessness, ‘A Place for Everyone,’ was approved by both municipalities in 2024, as the Journal-World reported. By 2028, the main objective of the plan is to “create a system that achieves functional zero through policy, system, and environmental changes resulting in all Douglas County residents having access to the fundamental human right of safe, accessible, attainable, and affordable housing, and which homelessness is a rare and brief occurrence.”

The plan has several focus areas, including lived experience, affordable housing, supportive housing, systems coordination, emergency shelter and services and community engagement. The agenda said the estimated five-year cost to fully implement the plan is approximately $267.8 million, with the most significant investments to be in affordable and supportive housing.

While portions of the plan’s costs are already reflected in existing budgets across the City of Lawrence, Douglas County, and partner organizations, there is currently no dedicated funding source identified to fully implement ‘A Place for Everyone.’

During a work session on Wednesday, commissioners will hear about what efforts are currently underway and the challenges staff have faced with the plan. No action will be taken after the presentation, which is for informational purposes only.

Examples of initiatives that have supported the focus areas in the plan include Douglas County contributing one-time capital project funding for developments such as Delmar Place, as well as ongoing program support, including the Flexible Housing Pool supportive housing voucher program. The city has provided funding for both construction and operations of transitional housing projects, such as The Village and pallet housing operated by the Lawrence Community Shelter. The city also supports additional initiatives each year through the Affordable Housing Trust Fund Grant in collaboration with public and private affordable housing developers.

The county also launched a dashboard that is updated monthly in May 2025 providing real-time data on homelessness, tracking individuals who have accessed homelessness services, such as emergency shelters, transitional housing, safe havens and street outreach, within the past 90 days. The data comes from the Homeless Management Information System, HMIS, and the Coordinated Entry System, CES. HMIS is a database that collects information on those facing homelessness, while CES is a process within it that helps assess and connect individuals to housing and services.

According to a presentation in the agenda, the county highlights a goal of establishing a Lived Experience Advisory Board that provides clear feedback and diverse perspectives of individuals with lived experience of past or present homelessness and housing insecurity by 2027.

IN OTHER BUSINESS, COMMISSIONERS WILL:

• Consider entering into a contract with UnitedHealthcare to provide administrative services for Douglas County’s self-funded employee healthcare plan, which would become effective June 1, 2026.

Douglas County uses a self-funded health plan, paying medical claims directly while contracting with outside vendors for plan administration and stop-loss coverage. Under this structure, the county can either use a third-party administrator or contract directly with an insurance company to manage claims and provider networks.

Since about 2001, the county has used Luminare as its third-party administrator. After a 2025 market review by Willis Towers Watson, UnitedHealthcare’s direct contract proposal was identified as the best value, offering stronger network discounts and an estimated $434,000 in savings, along with plans to shift oral surgery benefits to Delta Dental to expand local provider access.

• Consider authorizing the emergency communications director to enter into a contract with Motorola for 10 APX radio consoles – replacing eight existing consoles and adding two new ones – along with APX6000 over-the-air rekeying capability and related system commissioning to support the upgraded radio system and the move to the new Public Safety Building. The total project cost is $1,306,992.

The radio consoles are the workstations dispatchers use to manage emergency communications. The consoles are expected to support future expansion, daily operations and increased demand related to the FIFA 2026 World Cup. Since moving an operating radio system is challenging, the new system will be set up in the Public Safety Building while the current system continues operating.

• Consider a conditional use permit for the storage of landscaping equipment associated with the property owner’s construction business, Rightway Solutions LLC, at 1805 East 200 Road. The equipment storage use was approved as a conditional use permit in 2023 and has not expired; however, commissioners are considering a new permit on Wednesday to modify the site layout. The proposed change relocates the equipment storage area from the north-central portion of the property to the far west side.

• Hold an executive session to consult with the county counselor on a personnel matter related to non-elected personnel.

The County Commission’s work session will begin at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the Douglas County Commission meeting room at 1100 Massachusetts St. The business meeting will follow at 5:30 p.m. The meeting will also be available via Zoom.