Kansas City continues to struggle with a growing homelessness crisis. For many people living outdoors, the path from an encampment to permanent housing is not a single step.

Safe Place was created to help bridge that gap.

Our goal is to develop practical, mobile shelter solutions that can be built through sweat equity, donated materials, volunteer mentorship, and community support. By giving individuals the opportunity to participate in creating their own shelter, we hope to provide greater safety, dignity, stability, and personal investment in the process.

Safe Place is not intended to replace housing programs. It is intended to provide another tool, another option, and another step forward for people who are currently living without safe shelter.

Working alongside Lightfoot Ministries, we are developing a community workshop where people can help build lightweight bicycle campers and mobile shelters through sweat equity, donated materials, volunteer mentorship, and community support.

The goal is simple:

• To help people move off the ground

• To provide greater safety, stability, storage, mobility, and dignity

• To give people the opportunity to participate in creating something that belongs to them

This is not simply a shelter project.

It is a skills project.

It is a community project.

It is a dignity project.

How I became involved with people experiencing homelessness

Hi, I’m Lea Ann Martin, Eight years ago I moved to Kansas City and was shocked by the number of people living on the streets.

I found myself asking the same question many people ask:

“What happened?”

Instead of relying on assumptions, I decided to ask the people themselves.

I sat in camps. I listened to stories. I shared meals. I learned names. I learned histories. Over the years, I heard hundreds of stories from hundreds of people.

What I discovered was that there was no single reason people became homeless.

Some struggled with addiction.

Some struggled with mental illness.

Some had experienced devastating trauma.

Some lost jobs, relationships, health, or family support.

The reasons were as different as the people themselves.

I also discovered something else.

Every person I met had once been a baby wrapped in a blanket, carried home from a hospital by someone who loved them and dreamed about their future.

Somewhere along the way, something went wrong.

I started small.

One Thanksgiving, instead of storing leftovers in my refrigerator, I packed meals and took them to people living outdoors.

Then I began giving haircuts.

Then I began distributing propane and emergency heaters during winter.

During one winter alone, I personally distributed hundreds of pounds of propane to help people stay warm and avoid freezing on the streets.

What began as simple acts of kindness turned into years of outreach, friendship, advocacy, and learning.

Over time, I came to understand that many people living outdoors are caught in a difficult space between surviving on the street and successfully maintaining permanent housing.

At the same time, sleeping on the ground is dangerous, unhealthy, unstable, and often dehumanizing.

I began searching for practical solutions that could provide greater safety, dignity, mobility, and personal ownership while remaining affordable and realistic.

That search eventually led me to the idea behind Safe Place.

The safe place solution-

After years of outreach, I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated by the gap between sleeping on the ground and successfully maintaining permanent housing.

Many people need something in between.

They need greater safety.

They need a secure place to store their belongings.

They need protection from the weather.

They need mobility.

They need dignity.

Most of all, they need practical solutions that meet them where they are today, not where we hope they will be six months from now.

The idea for Safe Place came from an unexpected source.

I have long been interested in survival skills, off-grid living, and lightweight mobile shelters. While exploring different designs, I discovered bicycle campers and human-powered mobile shelters that could be built from inexpensive materials and transported without a motor vehicle.

The idea immediately struck me as both practical and achievable.

Many of the materials needed to build these shelters are already available within our communities. Corrugated plastic campaign signs, bicycles, trailers, lumber, hardware, insulation, tools, and other materials are frequently discarded despite still having useful life left in them.

Safe Place seeks to reclaim many of those materials and transform them into practical shelter solutions.

Through a community workshop, participants will have the opportunity to work alongside volunteers and mentors to help build lightweight bicycle campers and mobile shelters using donated and reclaimed materials whenever possible.

The goal is not simply to hand someone a shelter.

The goal is to invite people to participate in creating something for themselves.

By contributing labor, learning new skills, solving problems, and working alongside others, participants gain more than a shelter.

They gain ownership.

They gain confidence.

They gain experience.

They gain community.

Every completed camper represents a practical step away from sleeping directly on the ground and a practical step toward greater stability.

Safe Place is built on a simple belief:

Dignity grows when people are given the opportunity to help build their own future.

How Safe Place Works

Safe Place is designed around participation rather than simple distribution.

Whenever possible, participants will have the opportunity to contribute labor, learn practical skills, and take part in the construction of the shelters they receive.

Working alongside experienced volunteers and mentors, participants may assist with construction, assembly, repairs, material preparation, workshop organization, and other project activities.

This “sweat equity” approach encourages responsibility, pride of ownership, skill development, and community involvement while helping keep costs manageable.

Safe Place will begin as a small pilot workshop serving a limited number of participants at a time. As we gain experience, learn what works, and build community support, the project will continue to evolve and improve.

Our goal is not simply to build shelters.

Our goal is to help people build stability, skills, confidence, and opportunity.

What We Need Right Now

One of our most immediate needs is donated or affordable climate-controlled workshop and storage space in Northeast Kansas City where materials can be stored, prototypes can be built, and volunteers can work safely throughout the year.

Securing a workspace is the critical first step. Once a permanent workspace has been established, we will begin accepting and organizing material donations, building prototypes, recruiting volunteers, and launching the first phase of the Safe Place program.

To launch the first phase of Safe Place, we are seeking support for:

• Donated or affordable climate-controlled workshop and storage space

• Tools and equipment

• Building materials

• Safety equipment

• Transportation and logistics

• Volunteer support and training

• Safe Place outreach supplies

Transportation and logistics funding will support the collection and movement of donated bicycles, tools, building materials, completed project components, and other resources needed to operate the Safe Place program throughout the Kansas City area.

In addition to financial support, we welcome donated workspace, skilled volunteers, community partnerships, and individuals willing to help us bring this vision to life.

Closing Thoughts

For years, I have listened to people tell me that homelessness is someone else’s problem.

I have never been able to see it that way.

I see people.

I see veterans, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, artists, laborers, and human beings whose lives took a different path than expected.

I believe people deserve more than a patch of concrete and a shopping cart.

I believe they deserve dignity.

I believe they deserve opportunity.

And I believe that communities can solve problems when ordinary people decide to get involved.

Safe Place is an experiment in compassion, practicality, ingenuity, and personal responsibility.

We don’t claim to have all the answers.

We simply want to build something better than the ground.

Thank you for helping us bring Safe Place to life.