Jackson County judge orders temporary halt to evictions as COVID-19 pandemic rages on
A Jackson County judge on Monday ordered to temporarily halt county employees from posting eviction notices, conducting eviction hearings or performing evictions for the next two weeks.
The order issued by Circuit Judge J. Dale Youngs comes days after two deputies with the county’s civil process unit shot a man during an eviction in Blue Springs.
Monday’s order will conclude Jan. 24, according to court officials. The order it is not a moratorium on housing evictions.
In his order, Youngs cited the impact of the continued spread COVID-19 as well as the recent social and political unrest.
“Whereas this recent social and political unrest has, combined with the societal stress of associated with the ongoing spread of COVID-19, and has created a current circumstances in which the risks Court personnel face in simply carrying out their duties is high,” Youngs wrote in his order.
“The 16th Judicial Circuit must always look to the safety and welfare of its employees and should, when necessary, consider pausing and/or temporarily suspending those Court procedures in which — because current events — it is reasonably believe the risk to the safety and welfare of those employees is high...,” the order said.
KC Tenants, a tenants’ rights organization, has repeatedly urged court and government officials to provide relief for tenants since the pandemic began.
On Monday, the group applauded the court order.
“Presiding Judge Youngs’ order is the Court’s admission that every eviction is an act of violence,” the group said in an emailed statement. “We know that it is the people wielding our power to intervene in violent systems, who have moved the Court to take this step.”
The group has engaged in a months long campaign that sought to raise public awareness of the plight of tenants adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Recently, the KC Tenants group chained themselves to the doors of the Jackson County Courthouse downtown and in an effort that shut down virtual eviction proceedings that day with online disruptions.
The group said its goal is to end all evictions and the judge’s order was not sufficient because it would end in two weeks.
“Tenants need a full eviction moratorium: NO filings, NO summons, NO hearings, NO writs of execution, and NO arbitrary end date. We need rent and mortgage cancellation and rental debt erasure,” the group said.
On Friday, officers responded to the 400 block of Northwest Weschester Drive around 9:20 a.m. on a shots fired call, according to Blue Springs police.
County process servers, or deputies were at a residence serving the eviction notice when they shot the tenant. His age was not specified.
He was taken to a hospital with serious injuries, police said.
This story was originally published January 11, 2021 at 3:34 PM.