ERIN MCDANIEL
City of Newton
NEWTON, Kan. — At Tuesday night’s meeting, the City Commission heard Emberhope’s proposal for an expansion on their Newton campus.
Emberhope President and CEO Nickaila Sandate and consultant Jim Scott described the first phase of a long-term master plan: Hope Estates, a 38-unit affordable housing development designed to serve the community needs for teens aging out of foster care, foster families, and seniors. It will include one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments in townhouses, duplexes, and a small apartment building.
The organization, which provides supportive services for children and families in child welfare, sees a need for youth aging out of foster care who don’t have housing resources in place and may wind up homeless or incarcerated. Through Hope Estates, Emberhope will provide housing as well as optional supportive services through case management. The development also will help Emberhope begin moving away from a congregate care model and toward a family-oriented model.
Emberhope intends to apply next month to the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation for Low Income Housing Tax Credits for the project. The company requested that the City pledge to waive $80,000 in permit and utility service fees, as the fee waivers would earn their application additional points in the competitive process.
City Commissioners expressed support for the mission of Emberhope and acknowledged the need for services. They also expressed concern for the potential need for increased police and fire/EMS services that an expansion at Emberhope might bring. In 2023, the Police Department responded 276 times to the Emberhope campus, and Fire/EMS responded about once per week. Emberhope representatives maintained that the new project would not expand the current population of severely traumatized youth; the target audience would be adults, many of whom are already living in the Newton community.
The Commission tabled Emberhope’s request for fee waivers until they can have more discussion of the potential long-term budgetary and resource impacts for the City.
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