Housing

Overland Park City Council voted last week to amend the city's development code and set a height limit for apartments in the city’s highest-density multifamily zoning areas. It spurred a heated discussion about the philosophy of housing in the fast-growing Johnson County city.

At the risk of eviction, tenants at Quality Hill Towers and Independence Towers launched a coordinated rent strike over what they say are poor conditions and rising prices. They're recruiting more residents to join, and pushing for help from federal housing authorities.

The nonprofit Community Housing of Wyandotte County has plans to build a 24-unit complex in Rosedale, with rents lower than the area has seen in years. But development got stalled after some neighbors raised concerns about parking and traffic problems.

Billions of dollars in development projects will begin construction around Kansas City in the next six months. KCUR's Up To Date spoke with Kansas City Manager Brian Platt about these developments, affordable housing and the latest on the streetcar extension.

As the 2024 calendar turned to autumn, 46 homeless people had died in Sedgwick County. That's compared to just 42 deaths for all of the previous year.

Demand for homes in Kansas is high, but construction of new homes has been slow for more than a decade. Kansas saw a significant drop in home construction after the Great Recession, contributing to a housing shortage today that drives up prices.

Many of the people in Kansas who are homeless do have an income, but housing is simply too expensive to afford a place to live. Plus: Missouri law doesn't clearly IVF, so what's the risk of the procedure being outlawed?

This is the second effort from Platte County to lower property tax rates for its residents. Commissioners plan to use excess sales tax money to fund major programs.

While Lenexa planning commissioners agreed that more homeless support is needed in Johnson County, they faulted the project at the former La Quinta Inn for being a bad fit for the surrounding neighborhood. But the Lenexa City Council will get the final say.

After drawn-out debate, the city will allocate federal funding to Hope Faith in the northeast to set up more shelter beds that will accept any person regardless of their race, gender, religious beliefs or condition.

A point-in-time count by the Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition found a nearly 7% increased in unhoused residents from last year. The tally has limitations, but it helps local agencies spot gaps and allocate scarce resources.

The University of Missouri's Columbia campus plans to admit 6,243 first-year students this fall — an increase of 18% from last year. With limited dorm space, the university is contracting a nearby apartment complex to accommodate the new students.