Kansas City leaders unveiled a new plan to end homelessness in the city. The wide-ranging Zero KC initiative is a comprehensive plan to address the barriers facing the homeless community and provide affordable housing. KMBC 9 found out what the plan includes and the next steps to put it into action. The visible camps at City Hall and Westport are gone, but the reality of homelessness in Kansas City remains. “COVID certainly sped it up. There's a lot of different stories, each one's a little different,” said Charles Copeland. He started visiting with the houseless community during the pandemic and came to City Hall Thursday to hear the city's new Zero KC plan to end homelessness.“The people that want help are there. There’s immediate needs that can be served,” said Copeland. The city’s plan is based on an in-depth community needs assessment. It lays out priority projects from low-barrier emergency shelters with fewer restrictions, to more outreach at homeless camps to offer resources.The plan also tackles the ongoing issue of affordable housing by exploring federal funding opportunities and state and local incentives for developers.“We needed to make sure that we were having housing first solutions to homelessness,” Kansas City, Missouri Mayor Quinton Lucas said. “We needed to make sure we were thinking about people in terms of how do we meet them with services, how do we meet them with job opportunities.”While funding and implementation of the plan are a work in progress, city leaders said it's not about finding a temporary fix, “but instead finding solutions that build better lives, better careers, better opportunities and better outcomes,” said Lucas. For Copeland, it's a step in the right direction.“I like that it’s on the front page, that it’s being talked about,” he said. “It gives me hope.” Doug Langner runs Hope Faith, a daytime shelter one mile away from City Hall. He was also at Thursday’s announcement. “We've got a lot of things we're ready to hit the ground running and doing, we just don't have the resources or people to do it,” he said. “We're hoping things like Zero KC are able to start providing those resources.”He's been working with the city to identify the needs and barriers facing the homeless community. As decisions are made, Langner said it's important those on the front lines are part of the conversation.“Our staff is frustrated every day that we don't have better solutions, so this is why we are wanting to lean in and engage and keep accountable for processes like this,” he said, “because it’s what makes a difference of life and death for some people.”City council needs to approve the plan, then the city will create an implementation team to establish a timeline. Right now, the city is aiming to end homelessness in five years.The city will hold three public listening sessions on the plan:Sept. 24 - South Patrol (Multipurpose Center) 9 - 11 a.m.9701 Marion Park Dr, Kansas City, Missouri 64137Attend via ZoomSept. 26 - Northland Neighborhoods, Inc. (Raymond R. Brock Jr. Hall) 5 - 7 p.m.5340 NE Chouteau Trafficway, Kansas City, Missouri 64119Attend via ZoomSept. 28 - MOHART (Auditorium) 5 - 7 p.m.3200 Wayne Ave, Kansas City, Missouri 64109Attend via ZoomTo read the full text of the plan, click here.