Through ‘no fault of her own,’ KC tenant faces eviction due to address mix-up
Jennifer Peters moved into the apartment off of Swope Parkway in 2019 after more than a year without a home.
She spent some nights staying with people she didn’t know, other nights in friends’ homes to get out of freezing or hot temperatures.
Peters landed the unit at Swope Plaza Estates just before her housing choice voucher was set to expire. She was finally turning her life around.
But now, because of an address mix-up between her landlord and the Kansas City Housing Authority and despite her repeated phone calls over the last year to try to remedy the issue, she’s facing eviction.
“I want to be able to have a roof over my head,” Peters said. “I don’t want to be out in these streets again ... because it’s hard out there.”
The potential eviction comes as tenant advocacy organizations call for Kansas City to reinstate the eviction moratorium that was in place at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thousands have lost jobs on both sides of the state line as a result of the pandemic. And those experiencing homelessness — who are often older, have pre-existing health conditions and can’t practice social distancing as much — are among those most vulnerable and at higher risk.
In contrast to other eviction cases, including one where a video of a landlord representative was seen thousands of times on Twitter after he said the eviction was “not my problem,” Peters’ landlord has tried to save his tenant — not evict her.
“It’s just the wrong thing to do,” landlord Gordon Roberts said.
The Star spoke with the housing authority executive director Edwin Lowndes on Thursday afternoon. Lowndes said he learned of the situation a few days earlier.
By Thursday evening, Roberts received an email from the housing authority saying the program manager spoke to Lowndes and requested additional documentation, including Peters’ lease, to resolve the situation.
Mix-up
The problem started in March 2019, when Peters switched units after another tenant had surgery and needed a ground floor unit. In June 2019, Roberts took over as landlord.
Roberts said he thinks the previous landlord never told the housing authority that Peters moved units. When Roberts took over the property, he said, he never knew there was an issue.
In February of this year, a housing authority inspector visited the address the organization had listed for Peters — but no one was home.
Under federal law, the housing authority can only pay for an inspected unit that passes quality standards, Lowndes said. As a result, the housing authority had to take back the last 11 months of rent.
That left Roberts short more than $6,000.
Without the $540 a month from the housing authority, Roberts said he will have to evict Peters. Peters has paid her portion of rent on time every month.
“This isn’t anyone trying to defraud the federal government,” Roberts said. “At least inspect the unit she’s in and fix it moving forward. I’m going to have to evict this person because I can’t afford to do this.”
Roberts said he has put his mortgage in forbearance, will struggle to pay utilities and can’t do maintenance with the loss of rent.
Lowndes said the housing authority was never notified that Peters moved.
Peters said she’s called repeatedly over the last year, but could never get someone on the phone. She left voicemails, but said no one called her back. Peters went to the office in person once, but said she was sent home because she didn’t have an appointment.
Earlier this week, Peters said the housing authority called her and said she hadn’t contacted them in a year. She said she was asked why she did not pay the entire portion of her rent.
Peters, who is on a fixed income, said she couldn’t afford to do that.
Lowndes said Peters would need to submit a request for tenancy approval form before the housing authority could inspect the unit and start a new housing assistance contract.
He said that while the housing authority normally recommends people allow 30 days for the process, they do have the ability to expedite inspections.
In emails shared with The Star between Roberts and a housing authority program manager, Roberts asked the authority to schedule an inspection for the new unit.
“You are causing precisely the situation for this poor woman that you are mandated to prevent,” Roberts wrote in one email on Aug. 25. “And of course i am the evil owner who will be to blame for all this.”
He questioned why the housing authority did not reach out to him after the February inspection.
Property manager Shaun McMahan said Peters is a good, quiet tenant who keeps to herself. She’s the kind of tenant he wants to keep.
And through “no fault of her own,” McMahan said, Peters is at risk of eviction.
Roberts and McMahan said they understand why the the housing authority had to take the previous months of rent back. They want the situation to be resolved going forward.
Lowndes said that “could very easily be done,” once the correct paperwork is complete.
“I just hope I don’t get put out,” Peters said. “I’m just not trying to be back out on these streets again.”
