Residents push back on Shawnee’s controversial ‘co-living’ restrictions

Shawnee resident Val French said she first learned about the city’s controversial co-living restrictions by scrolling through Twitter.

She said she was upset. She didn’t get a direct notice from the city or her councilmember and was concerned her housing would soon be in jeopardy.

French currently lives with her blended family of five, including herself, her husband, her son, her stepson and her son’s girlfriend, who are all over 18.

The recently passed ordinance states that “co-living” is defined as four or more “unrelated” people living together. It also states that if one person in a group is unrelated to another adult, the entire group will be considered unrelated.

“I was very nervous, because it felt like my living arrangement became illegal overnight,” French said.

She eventually learned that the new restrictions will not impact her family since she and her husband recently got married. and per the ordinance, homeowners and families can still have three or fewer unrelated renters or roommates.

However, the restrictions are still a cause of concern for her and her family. If French, wanted to invite more friends or unrelated people to live with her family or rent a room, she would be in violation of the ordinance.

“I don’t understand how if someone owns their home, how you get to tell them who lives there,” French said.

Limited affordable housing options, rising rents

The Shawnee City Council voted unanimously to ban “co-living” recently, and Shawnee residents and advocates, like French, are pushing back. Many people turn to “co-living” or having roommates as a way to cut down on expenses or to have more flexibility in their living arrangements.

A recent housing study of Johnson County found that rent prices in Shawnee are rising by some of the highest rates in the county. The study found that 48% of renters in Shawnee spend over 30% of their income toward their housing.

“I’ve lived in Johnson County my whole life, and I’m very aware that housing prices are constantly increasing,” French said. “It’s absolutely racist and classist for them to not want to allow co-living situations in a city that is the third largest city in Johnson County.”

She said these kinds of restrictions can discourage and exclude lower income families from living in the city.

Johnson County is the wealthiest county in the state, with the average family making around $84,915 a year–$27,915 above the state average.

A call for clearer language

The ordinance was initially put into place to deter businesses from turning single family homes into rooming houses, Shawnee council members said.

Yet, the language in the ordinance has many Shawnee residents concerned that it will impact regular residents looking for affordable housing options.

Shawnee resident Esmie Tseng said if the city council wanted to target specific business ventures, the language should have been clearer.

“If they’re sincere about wanting to control for these supposedly problematic companies, I think they need to be really clear and make sure that their ordinance is very precise in targeting just that situation,” Tseng said.

Residents push back

Tseng has lived in Shawnee for three years and is now a homeowner in the area. She learned about the ordinance at work. After realizing how many people disagreed with the co-living restrictions, she decided to create a petition on Change.org, so people who wanted to push back had a landing post for the issue.

“I thought of the petition as a way to just kind of give the [city council] an opportunity to hear a little more critique, a little more diverse feedback than maybe they’re used to hearing,” Tseng said.

The petition that was created last week now has 334 signatures. Tseng has also organized for residents to attend the city council meeting on Monday so people can voice their concerns in person.

Restrictions may impact residents beyond Shawnee

Shawnee is steadily seeing more people call the city home.

The city’s annual population growth rate is now 1.08% and between 2020 and 2030, the city is expected to grow by more than 7,500 residents.

Overland Park resident Richard Nobles said he was hoping to move to Shawnee soon to live closer to his friends, but now he has to rethink it.

“This ordinance is a deterrent for someone like me,” said Nobles, who is a Black gay man. Nobles said that the ordinance especially concerns him because as he gets older, he would like the freedom to live with his loved ones, regardless of relation.

“[This ordinance] would adversely affect those of us who don’t have blood relations and want to live with individuals that we identify with because that’s our chosen family,” said Nobles.

Jae Moyer, who also lives in Overland Park but was raised in Shawnee, said the city feels like it might be off limits to them as well. During the pandemic, Moyer lived with multiple roommates and said that if they wouldn’t have had those roommates, they wouldn’t have been able to afford their housing.

“If I wanted to move into a co-living situation, I would not be able to do that in the city of Shawnee, which would significantly hinder my ability to live in Johnson County since Shawnee is a sizable portion of the county,” Moyer said.

“So you know it, it does have larger implications even not just for residents of the city.”

“I think it ruins neighborhoods”

One major concern for residents like French is how this ban will be enforced.

Housing ordinances like this co-living ban are enforced by Shawnee’s code enforcement department. The department primarily depends on complaints from neighbors who witness a violation.

French, who specializes in conflict management, said relying on neighbors to report other neighbors can be harmful to communities.

“I already have problems with neighbors calling codes [enforcement] about neighbors. I think it’s a horrible, horrible system,” French said.

“I think that community members don’t even go to a neighbor and ask them a question or talk to each other. Instead they just escalate that conflict by calling in the authorities. And I think it ruins neighborhoods.”

French pointed out that this kind of enforcement could be most harmful to multi-generational families and people from diverse backgrounds. If a neighbor chooses to report a large family without taking the time to speak with them, they might end up causing trouble for a family that could be well within their right to have more than four people in the home.

“I think [the ordinance] is absolutely exclusive to a white nuclear family,” she said. “That isn’t real anymore”

How to reach the Shawnee City Council

If you are a Shawnee resident with questions or concerns about the co-living restrictions, you can contact Shawnee City Council president Eric Jenkins at ejenkins@cityofshawnee.org. You can also use this ward map, to figure out who your specific council member is.

Residents can also attend a city council meeting, which is held on the second and fourth Monday of each month at 6 p.m. The meetings are held at 11110 Johnson Dr. in Shawnee. To get more instructions on how to participate in a city council meeting, visit here.

This story was originally published May 9, 2022 at 3:49 PM.