Kansas City will step in to repair an apartment complex that has forced nine tenants and their families into homelessness and left others living in dangerous conditions.
The troubled complex off North Lawn Avenue in Kansas City’s Indian Mound neighborhood has been without electricity for more than a month, leaving multiple units without air conditioning during dangerously hot heat. Tenants have been dealing with power outages, as well as raw sewage in the basement, insect and rodent infestations, dangerous electric and furnace appliances, and unsecured entrances for years.
An ordinance sponsored by council member Johnathan Duncan and approved Thursday by the council appropriates money from the city’s Housing Trust Fund for emergency repairs at the complex. It also will charge landlord Yisroel Levovitz for the expenses the city takes on through special tax assessments on the property. Council member Nathan Willett was the only vote against the ordinance.
This marks one of the most significant interventions the city has taken to protect tenants. Duncan said this ordinance is a first step for the city to hold negligent landlords accountable before conditions get as bad as they are at the North Lawn complex.
“The city has a responsibility to ensure that every single family has habitable living conditions,” Duncan said. “We should not be allowing folks to live in third-world conditions in our city. We have multiple codes on our books; we need to be using them effectively, and we need to be holding negligent landlords to the fullest extent of the law. That's exactly what this ordinance does.”
The ordinance also directs City Manager Mario Vasquez to create a task force that combines the city departments that deal with housing and code violations and develop a protocol that streamlines housing efforts in a way that also collaborates with tenants.
The move comes after Kansas City officials, including Vasquez, Duncan and five other city council members and a number of city staff, visited the complex earlier this month.
Tenants at the property, a majority of whom are unionized with KC Tenants, say they have not heard from their landlord in weeks, despite him tentatively agreeing to a deal that would repair the property. The city said it hasn’t been able to reach Levovitz, who owns the complex through Wiser KC LCC, either.
Levovitz did not respond to a request for comment. A lawyer who represents him could not be reached for comment.
Mary Allison Joseph, an organizer with KC Tenants, said this ordinance is a first step in breaking a cycle of landlord neglect in the city. Joseph said in past instances, KC Tenants has seen landlords neglect their properties until the city condemns them, which displaces tenants who then rely on nonprofit housing resources, vouchers or transitional housing.
“Today's vote is a departure from that,” Joseph said. “It's huge. I can't think of a more significant action the city council has taken in recent history to protect tenants and keep them in their homes.”
Prior city involvement
This is not the first time the city has gotten involved with problems at the North Lawn complex. Residents expanded their union with KC Tenants in May, which made the union a 94% majority across the three buildings that make up the complex. But tenants have been organized at the North Lawn complex for years earlier.
In 2023, an electrical fire knocked out utilities at the complex, leaving tenants without heat during one of the coldest weekends of the year. The residents in that building organized with KC Tenants and got the utilities turned back on.
When the former owner sold the complex to Levovitz and Wiser KC LLC, the tenants won lease protections and rent stabilization made possible by the city’s rental assistance program. That agreement subsidized the rent of the original eight households who unionized in exchange for Levovitz making crucial repairs and ensuring the tenants remain in their homes. That deal made the residents the most protected tenants in the state, but expired earlier this year.
After their July 9 visit, council members who had seen the property in 2023 said they were appalled that the complex was in worse condition than before. Council member Eric Bunch said the city should consider clawing back the millions in funding it gave to Levovitz.
Other accountability measures
Tenants at the three North Lawn buildings struck a tentative deal signed by Levovitz and the union in June, just a day after the power went out in one of the buildings. The contract, obtained by KCUR, stipulated that Levovitz would begin the crucial maintenance that was necessary at the properties. The contract also stated that Levovitz would freeze the rent for current tenants, install window air conditioning units and pay tenants a relocation fee of $3,000 if they needed to move because of the condition of their units.
Under the tentative agreement, Levovitz and his team were supposed to reach a final agreement with the union by June 19. Joseph said the union hasn’t heard from Levovitz since. That’s when the union began escalating its approach.
Tenants at the North Lawn complex have filed multiple lawsuits against Levovitz for a breach of contract, and others plan to file more. The union also mass filed 20 healthy homes complaints, which added to the dozens of others already on file for the apartment buildings.
While tenants waited for Levovitz or the city to take action, many were displaced because of the unlivable conditions. Gloria Watson went three weeks without water or electricity. Eventually she was unable to remain in her unit because of health concerns. She said if an ordinance like this had been passed sooner, she might still be in her home.
“I couldn't take no more,” Watson said. “My health was getting to me, so I had to go ahead and move. I'm overwhelmed and I'm glad that we won this, so nobody will have to go through what I went through.”
The union arranged the July meeting with city leaders at the complex, where they demanded the city hold Levovitz accountable while not displacing the residents. Kansas City suspended Levovitz’s permit around the time of the visit, which means he cannot offer new units up for rent. Officials say they’re also in the process of seeking maximum penalties for code violations they’ve found at the North Lawn properties.
In that time, Levovitz has listed the complex for sale — a move that’s left KC Tenants and some city officials concerned that he is trying to rid himself of the property to avoid repairing the units or paying any penalties he incurs.
Levovitz and his brother, Yeruchom Levovitz, currently face legal action for more than 40 nuisance violations at other properties they own in the Northeast. In some of those cases, the brothers are also trying to sell the properties.
In addition to the repair ordinance and the inspection process, city officials also pledged to explore other ways to make the complex habitable without displacing residents. That could include supporting the neighborhood association taking receivership of the property, which would give the Indian Mound Neighborhood Association control of the complex to charge debts against Wiser KC LCC and a new owner of the property.
Joseph said Thursday’s ordinance would help make conditions at the North Lawn complex better, but it’s not enough. At a meeting with tenants Wednesday, Joseph said Mayor Quinton Lucas agreed to continue to meet with tenants to create a new enforcement ordinance by the end of this year.
Duncan said he hopes the repair ordinance and city task force are replicated for other problematic complexes throughout the city.
“My goal is that we're handling these in a more proactive way that protects people, ensures that people are living in habitable conditions and are handling these issues before they get to an emergency level that costs this level of money,” Duncan said. “We end up saving money when we actually hold landlords accountable to the fullest extent of the law early, instead of getting into a disaster situation which we are in right now.”
