Edwin Lowndes, '76 named a "Local Hero" by Ingrams Magazine

Intended or not, Edwin Lowndes is fully aware of the pun when he says of the hurricane evacuees, “We gave them a foundation to put their lives back together.” As Executive Director of the Kansas City Housing Authority (KCHA), Lowndes has spent 10 years helping to provide housing to low-income families. When Katrina hit New Orleans and instantly made thousands of families homeless, Lowndes knew it was only a matter of time before many of these displaced families would be coming to Kansas City seeking temporary and permanent shelter—and he knew the city had to be ready.

Because of the nature of the disaster in New Orleans, Lowndes and the multiple organizations he worked with were able to speed up a screening and housing assistance process that typically takes anywhere from one to three years. “Our goal was to get away from the bureaucracy and find a way to expedite the process to help these families,” Lowndes says. “The best way to cut down the bureaucracy was to work directly with the families.” And that meant determining “how many families need housing and how we can assist them. Some of these people literally lost everything. They went from low income to no income.”

The Kansas City Housing Authority pulled together other area public housing authorities and was designated the main center of operations in issuing rental assistance program applications for vouchers to evacuees looking for homes. The KCHA worked with area landlords in pre-inspecting 150-200 apartments for incoming families. They also agreed to waive security deposits until families who had lost everything in the hurricane could afford to pay.

At the same time, Lowndes and his staff continued to assist the 10,000 people already on the KCHA’s waiting list before the hurricane. Between September and October, more than 300 vouchers were offered to families, half of these going to Katrina evacuees. Of the massive collaborative effort staged by the KCHA and other area organizations, Lowndes says, “We saw the need in families who lost everything. When you put your mind to it, you can really mobilize and help people out.”