Tenants

The program manager estimates around 50 landlord-tenant cases in Sedgwick County had been mediated as of late September, more than a year after the program begun. Meanwhile, the county typically sees around 5,000 eviction filings, or more, per year.

Tenants at two apartment complexes in the Kansas City area are now withholding rent payments, in the city’s first rent strike since 1980. Rent strikes are illegal in Missouri, but residents say it's worth the risk, after dealing with deteriorating living conditions and a lack of maintenance.

The Kansas City, Missouri-based tenants rights advocacy group joined other tenants unions in Illinois, Connecticut, Kentucky and Montana to form the Tenant Union Federation. TUF hopes to create more effective organizing practices among tenants nationwide and push for federally regulated rent control.

Housing in the Kansas City area, and in Missouri overall, is quickly becoming unaffordable. The city and state are seeing some of the fastest rent increases in the country, and local housing experts and advocates say Kansas City needs to do more to protect residents.

Missouri landlords were found to cash in on the State Assistance for Housing Relief program — sometimes for upwards of $1 million — even as they failed to provide tenants basic maintenance and upkeep.

University City-based Matthew Chase is one of the busiest eviction attorneys in the St. Louis region — as evidenced by the fact that many of the area’s biggest landlords have picked them as their go-to guy. Chase files around 450 eviction cases in a typical month.

The short documentary “Renter Revolt: Housing and Human Rights in America’s Heartland," produced by TIME Magazine, shows how the tenant advocacy group has become a leading voice in the national conversation on affordable housing.

For years, residents at Quality Hill Towers in Kansas City have watched maintenance requests pile up, including infestations of bed bugs and other pests. With the help of KC Tenants, 53 residents unionized this summer to pressure their landlord, Sentinel Real Estate Corp., to make long-needed improvements.

Grassroots tenant union KC Tenants has made affordable housing a top concern in Kansas City. Now, the political arm of the group, KC Tenants Power, has flexed some of its sway in city elections.

In Jackson County, the fee for a landlord to file for eviction is just $62. Researchers found that when filing fees are low, landlords are more likely to file evictions "serially" against the same tenant as a way to collect late rent — rather than as a last resort.

La relación propietario-inquilino puede crear un campo abierto para disputas que pueden terminar en desalojo. Muchos inquilinos no saben que hay leyes y reglamentos que los protegen. Aquellas normas varían de un estado a otro.

Tenants in the Cloverleaf Apartment complex reported major leaks, mold, pest infestations and a chronic lack of hot water or air conditioning. The landlord can no longer own property in Missouri for 10 years.