A Topeka nonprofit unveiled five new affordable housing units in central Topeka on Friday morning, allowing the organization to now lease those units as part of its affordable housing program.
Executives with Cornerstone of Topeka Inc. a local nonprofit that has been serving the capital city since 1987 were joined by city of Topeka officials, including city manager Brent Trout and city council member Karen Hiller, as they celebrated the completion of four new three-bedroom housing units at 1131 S.W. Lane St. and one new bungalow-style single-family home at 717 S.W. Fillmore.
Those five units will now be rented out to families making less than the area s median household income, which is about $67,000 for a family of three, according to Dora Coronel, Cornerstone s property manager.
If you rent out “more than two rooms” in Topeka, you might have a new tax to pay after the Topeka City Council voted to broaden taxing language.
Topeka’s previous transient guest tax ordinance only taxed providers who rented out more than eight rooms in one location, but Topeka City Council voted to reduce that limit to tax entities that are renting out “more than two rooms,” the ordinance reads.
A transient guest is someone who stays in a hotel, motel or “tourist court for not more than 28 consecutive days.
The updated ordinance also makes “accommodations brokers” subject to the tax. An accommodation broker is a business that rents two or more rooms in one or more locations, like Airbnb.
“It’s a nightmare,” said Jay Ives, president of The Blind Tiger. “We have been hurt incredibly.”
In response to local businesses struggling, the Joint Economic Development Organization allocated $700,000 from “cash carry forward” funds to help small businesses, with the funds subject to future approval by the JEDO board.
JEDO chair and Shawnee County Commissioner Kevin Cook said at Tuesday night’s meeting that the money was only set aside to potentially help businesses, and while it could be used to create a fund for small businesses, no formal plan was established.
JEDO created a task force of three people incoming JEDO chair Mayor Michelle De La Isla, Shawnee County Commissioner Aaron Mays and city Councilmember Mike Lesser to determine how JEDO will use the money.
Since 2013, TPD has only used “lethal defensive action against” people six times.
Haltom presented these numbers to the Police and Community committee at Thursday night s meeting. The committee spent another two hours Thursday night further reviewing the department s policies to determine whether any changes need to be made.
There were 572 use of force incidents by TPD between 2017 and 2019. Of those incidents, 236 cases involved white men, 56 involved white women, 176 involved Black men, 29 involved Black women, 50 involved Hispanic men, seven involved Hispanic women, seven involved Native American men and four involved Native American women.
Black individuals made up 35.8% of the incidents despite only making up 10.5% of Topeka s population, according to 2019 U.S. Census Bureau statistics. Hispanic individuals accounted for 9.9% of use of force incidents and make up 15.4% of Topeka’s 2019 population.
It is now illegal to discriminate against members of the LGBTQ community in Topeka.
Topekans searching for work, housing or public accommodations can no longer be discriminated against for their gender identity, genetic information, sexual orientation or veteran status, as those were added to the list of protected classes in a nondiscrimination ordinance at Tuesday’s Topeka City Council meeting.
“Such discrimination not only threatens the rights and privileges of the inhabitants of the city but also menaces the institutions and foundations of a free democratic state,” the NDO ordinance read.
The ordinance was unanimously approved by city council and was met with applause by Councilmember Karen Hiller.