‘Pushing us on out’: Residents of Kansas City apartment form union amid landlord dispute
A group of tenants living in a Midtown apartment building is in a dispute with their landlord, who they say is pushing them out in order to renovate units and double the rent. Tenants have been given until the end of November to vacate.
The Armour Flats building in the 3400 block of Holmes Street houses 24 units and at least nine have received 30-day notices to leave, according to KC Tenants, a local organization that advocates for housing rights. The affected residents, part of the newly formed Armour Flats Tenants Union, said in a joint statement Monday that many of the elderly and disabled tenants will be unable to afford the new rent.
“We love our neighborhood and our neighbors. Armour Flats is close to vital services and many of us do not want to move,” the residents said in the statement, adding: “Armour Flats is cashing in on our displacement, a gross and greedy move, on trend with the gentrification we have observed throughout the Midtown neighborhoods. We won’t stand for it.”
Reached by phone Monday afternoon, Christina Juhasz, a property manager with Reliable Properties, the rental company, declined to comment on the dispute.
Patricia Lucas, 67, has lived in the building for 17 years. In recent months, through meetings with other tenants and the property manager, she learned of increases in the rent and the refusal to renew leases. The rent for her one-bedroom apartment is anticipated to be well over $1,000 per month when all is said and done, she said. It’s an increase that she and many others cannot afford.
“It’s just not right what they’re doing. They’re just pushing us on out,” said Lucas, a retiree who is on a fixed income and relies on social security and other benefits to pay for her housing.
The residents are calling for a meeting with the property manager to discuss a list of demands. The demands include retraction of the non-renewal lease notices, guarantees that current tenants may renew lease terms with a maximum 2% rent hike, extending the lease renewal period for at least six months and paying $4,000 expenses for those moving out.
Tenants have also called upon City Council members Eric Bunch and Katheryn Shields (4th District) to meet with the union and advocate for them.
This story was originally published October 11, 2021 at 6:02 PM.
