Data shows eviction filings rising in Kansas City, council passes Tenants’ Right to Counsel
A new program guaranteeing legal representation to tenants may impact eviction rates in Kansas City as soon as this summer. Eviction filings have been on a steady rise in recent months, according to data compiled by Princeton University’s Eviction Lab.
While the number of eviction filings in Jackson County, Missouri, remains below historic averages, cases have steadily been increasing since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ended an eviction moratorium in late August. The Tenants’ Right to Counsel program seeks to curb this trend. City Council passed the new law on Thursday, Dec. 9.
In recent years, eviction filings in Kansas City reached a high during the week of Jan. 26, 2020, and fell to a low during the week of April 12, 2020, following the start of the Jackson County eviction moratorium.
Looking across the state, both Kansas City and St. Louis rank in the top 25% for their eviction rate nationally, according to analysis of data from the Eviction Lab. Among Missouri’s largest cities, Independence ranked No. 1 for its eviction rate in 2016, with more than four evictions for every 100 tenants. For No. 2 Kansas City, it means more than 10 evictions each day.
All are statistics that local organizations are working to change.
While landlords appear in court with attorneys in around 90% of Kansas City’s eviction cases, tenants have historically had to rely on overburdened legal aid clinics for representation. The coming months will show whether their new access to free legal representation will impact eviction numbers.
Take a look at the graph below for a week-by-week look at the number of eviction filings in Kansas City since January 2020.
Received a notice to vacate?
The Star’s service team put together a guide on what to do when a tenant gets a notice to vacate from their landlord. This came after residents of the Bakers Corner and Muehlebach Apartments were surprised by their tenant selling the buildings to The Tiehen Group, who later said everyone’s going to have to move out as they reconstruct the buildings.
This story was originally published December 3, 2021 at 5:15 PM.
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