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The Topeka City Council approved $300,000 for a homeless outreach program built around opioid addiction as a root cause of homelessness. They’ll fund daily field workers to connect folks on the street to case management, clinical services, and treatment. The program is led by the nonprofit Breakthrough House. Even though Kansas has many programs like …
Topeka Approves $300K for Opioid Addiction Homeless Outreach
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The Topeka City Council approved $300,000 for a homeless outreach program built around opioid addiction as a root cause of homelessness. They’ll fund daily field workers to connect folks on the street to case management, clinical services, and treatment.
The program is led by the nonprofit Breakthrough House. Even though Kansas has many programs like local Narcotics Anonymous chapters to to assist those impacted by opioid addiction, the unhoused has few dedicated services.
Opioids & Homelessness in Topeka
Kim Williams-Gaston is chief operating officer of Breakthrough House. She pointed out the city’s homeless population is large and growing .
“We have a really large homeless population in our city, for how big our city is. And it’s not getting smaller.”
Local leaders estimate that a significant part of Topeka’s homeless population has opioid addiction. That’s why the outreach effort revolves around both problems.
Outreach is In
Carrie Higgins, director of the city’s housing services division, relayed that they want to get people diagnosed and quickly connected to treatment that fits their situation.
“It is specific to homelessness and opioid issues, and so it allows us to really help that population that there are not really that many services for.”
WIlliam-Gaston added that the program also connects participants to housing and a clubhouse where they can build daily living and job skills.
“And if we have housing and we have case management and we have a clubhouse where they can learn these skills that they need, we’re really helping them set themselves up for success”
The initiative operates in the Built for Zero framework. They coordinate action to reduce homelessness and prevent it when possible. Indeed, success is measured against Built for Zero national standards to get the number down to zero.
Harm Reduction & Treatment
Outreach programs that engage people actively using opioids increasingly pair treatment connections with harm reduction tools.
Naloxone reverses opioid overdoses and is safe to administer.
Medication-assisted treatment, which combines FDA-approved medications with counseling, remains the standard of care for opioid addiction and sharply reduces overdose risk when people stay in treatment.
NA Meetings in Amerca’s Heartland & Beyond
Long-term recovery often depends on ongoing peer support after formal treatment ends. Narcotics Anonymous meetings give people a free, regular structure for staying connected, and meetings exist across Topeka and the rest of Kansas.
If you or someone you love is struggling, you can find NA meetings in Topeka or anywhere else in the country via our browsable directory.
Call 800-934-1582(Sponsored) is another option to speak with someone about approaches to opioid addiction treatment..
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