Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas on Wednesday vowed to strike a downtown stadium deal with the Kansas City Royals during his annual State of the City address
Kacen Bayless
kbayless@kcstar.com
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas on Tuesday pressed for city officials to have more say over how money is spent on homelessness prevention programs after The Star reported on a pair of allegations leveled against a local nonprofit leader tied to a federal criminal probe.
Lucas, during a lengthy budget hearing inside City Hall, offered an amendment that would have given the city’s housing director and City Council members more oversight over how the city provides funding to homelessness prevention services.
“I read a newspaper piece today about homelessness prevention services and some of the ambiguities. I would like to have a cleaner understanding of just how much we’re spending in the services,” Lucas said during the hearing. “If somebody asked, ‘how much are we spending on homelessness prevention, homelessness services,’ I don’t know what the answer is right now.”
The comments from Lucas came just hours after The Star reported new details about a federal grand jury subpoena sent to Kansas City last year that sought records related to Anton Washington, a local nonprofit leader. As City Hall contracted with Washington’s organization, emails detailing allegations of inappropriate behavior followed, The Star found.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation obtained a copy of one of those emails as part of a sweeping probe that has upended Kansas City politics, The Star reported. But the full extent of the investigation, and its exact target, remains unclear.
From 2021 through 2024, city officials signed into seven contracts — and one contract amendment — with Washington’s organization, totaling roughly $287,000. Financial records obtained by The Star, however, show the organization received additional funding in 2025, a discrepancy that made it unclear whether the city is still working with his organization.
Lucas’ amendment marked the mayor’s first formal maneuver in response to the federal criminal investigation that has roiled City Hall over the past year. Lucas has said that he was unaware of the federal grand jury subpoena until it was revealed in the media last month.
After Lucas offered the amendment, council member Kevin O’Neill, who represents the northern tip of Kansas City, told his colleagues that he was concerned about The Star’s findings.
“I think I read the same article,” O’Neill said. “I’m concerned about our vetting process on anything homeless and how we’re doling out contracts. I just want to make sure that we are aligned with a vetting process that actually shows that we are trying to do the best we can with the money we’re allotting to the people in need.”
But the actual mechanics and immediate ramifications of Lucas’ plan were not immediately clear. After comments from Council member Johnathan Duncan, who represents Kansas City’s southwestern edge, and city staff, Lucas ultimately pulled the amendment from the budget discussion.
Duncan, for his part, questioned the logistics of the amendment, suggesting that the plan — which dealt with Kansas City’s $1 million Housing Gateway Program — was unrelated to The Star’s report about money allocated to Washington’s organization.
“This is apples and oranges,” Duncan said.
Lucas did not indicate on Tuesday whether he would resurrect the plan during future budget discussions.
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Kacen Bayless is the Democracy Insider for The Kansas City Star, a position that uncovers how politics and government affect communities across the sprawling Kansas City area. Prior to this role, he covered Missouri politics for The Star. A graduate of the University of Missouri, he previously was an investigative reporter in coastal South Carolina.