By John Sharp
The city plans to possibly purchase the 99-room America’s Best Value Inn at 11801 Blue Ridge Blvd. to provide long-term housing for houseless KCMO residents and those without stable housing.
A ZOOM webinar is scheduled for 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 12, to inform the Hickman Mills community about Persons may participate in the webinar by going online to https://us02web.zoom.us/87861808579, webinar ID 878 6180 8579.
Deputy City Manager Kimiko Gilmore said the city is currently getting an appraisal on the motel which she said has an asking price of $3.2 million, and any decision to purchase it would require city council approval.
If the project goes forward, she said persons considered for housing there would go through a thorough screening process to determine if they are well-suited for such housing, and wraparound social services, hopefully available onsite, would be provided to assist them.
She said the site would be designed to help people who are ready for permanent housing but can’t afford it, not for hard to place persons with multiple issues that likely couldn’t be addressed successfully in such a setting.
She said if the project is approved she hopes that microwaves and small refrigerators could be added to the rooms immediately and that remodeling of the rooms to include more complete kitchen facilities could be phased in over time.
She said a similar facility, the 37-room Lotus Care House at the former Days Inn at 5100 Linwood Blvd., has been operating for several months. She said it is not designed to provide permanent housing, but does provide long-term transitional housing.
For more information about the Best Value Inn project, persons may contact 5th Council District assistant Keema McCoy at keema.mccoy@kcmo.org or at 816-513-6519.