Flooding forced tenants out. They want more help from their landlord, and Kansas City
Jarrod McDaniel was in bed late at night last month when the fire alarm sounded at his downtown apartment building. When he got downstairs, he said, the lobby was flooded.
A pipe had burst, cutting off power to the Professional Building Lofts at 11th Street and Grand Boulevard and forcing tenants out. Their landlord put them up at a nearby hotel.
But now, McDaniel, a special education teacher, and his neighbors are scrambling to get their belongings out of the building. Many of their leases have been terminated. And the building won’t be habitable until May.
The displacement of 132 households has renewed calls for Kansas City to allocate more funds to help tenants in such situations. Councilman Eric Bunch, 4th District, who represents the area, has vowed to propose an amendment to the annual budget plan to add more funds to the Office of the Tenant Advocate.
The city created the office to enforce its Tenants Bill of Rights, enacted more than a year ago. But so far, the city has hired just one advocate, who must triage calls as more tenants grapple with the economic fallout of COVID-19 as well as recent severe weather that made their homes nearly uninhabitable.
Often, City Hall sends callers to KC Tenants, an outside activist organization, the group has said.
Yet finding more funding may be unlikely as COVID put a choke hold on city revenues and the mayor has proposed a far leaner budget for the next fiscal year.
And critics, including a landlords group, say the money would be better spent elsewhere, such as handing landlords the rent money.
Bunch tweeted that he and his aide could spend all day helping tenants who call their office. They spent hours helping find resources for the tenants of McDaniel’s building, who he said were essentially evicted without warning.
“We have those types of cases that come to our attention all the time,” Bunch said. “And the reason they come to our attention is that we don’t have people in the housing department actually dedicated to doing that work.”
‘It’s not enough’
McDaniel talked about his plight as he stood outside the Kansas City Marriott Downtown, where he and many of his neighbors are staying. He had moved into the apartment building in September after a few friends recommended it. At first, he said, it seemed perfect. But then his toilet didn’t flush properly. And when the pipe burst on Feb. 20, he didn’t think it was real.
McDaniel, 33, thought the flooded lobby might be fixed in the morning. When he woke up to no power, he realized it was worse than he thought.
With no electricity, he had to navigate a narrow staircase to move his things from his 11th floor loft, in the dark, with neighbors’ belongings cluttering the way.
“I have to use my flashlight to go up the steps just to see,” McDaniel said.
His landlord, Wisconsin-based The Alexander Co., paid for the hotel room and taxes. Tenants were responsible for the $20-a-day parking fee, internet costs and any pet fees.
McDaniel said he has refused to pay for the internet, so he’s had to do his online teaching from other places, including his grandmother’s house and once, the library.
“There’s nothing that we did (that’s) our fault, and it feels like we are kind of being punished,” McDaniel said. “And then at the same time it’s like they’re doing all these things for us and they’re like, ‘Well you should be grateful that we’re even doing that.’ But it’s not enough.”
He said a bigger Tenant Advocate Office would help.
“The people of Kansas City just need to know that this is a citywide problem. It’s not just in PB Lofts. It’s happening in other places too throughout the city,” McDaniel said. “And it must be addressed, and it must be addressed immediately.”
Residents shared with The Star a March 1 email that said the company found a place for them to stay from March 5 — the day they had to leave the Marriott — until March 19, weeks before their apartments would be habitable again.
Company president Joe Alexander told The Star on Friday that the company is “committed to keeping people housed” either until they find another place to live or until the building reopens.
But as of Friday afternoon, McDaniel said tenants were only informed of a paid hotel until the 19th. In an email, the company told residents they were looking at “alternative options” for after that date.
When the pipe froze and burst after days of freezing temperatures, the building’s basement, which holds the mechanical and electrical equipment, flooded, Alexander said.
Alexander, who said he visited the building to speak with staff and residents on March 2, said tenants will not have to reapply, and their rent will be the same. The company also refunded security deposits and issued prorated rent checks.
The week after the pipe burst, they began reconstruction and ordering supplies to repair and replace much of the electrical, water and HVAC systems.
“We’re moving as quickly as we can to get the building up,” Alexander said.
By early this week, he said, they should know when people could move back in.
Some tenants are asking the company to pay for at least 30 days at a hotel, transitional housing for those who need more time for the length of the repairs, and moving expenses for those who choose to leave. And they want the company to sign a legal agreement to guarantee a return date, unit and rate.
McDaniel hasn’t decided if he’ll move back. He’s still furious and is still trying to clear his head, he said. He and a few others, he said, are trying to make sure all their neighbors are OK. Then, it’s time to figure out next steps. Some people may be looking to move, but with all the other expenses, aren’t able to. Plus, he added, he can’t find a moving company willing to take the job.
One resident with grandchildren, McDaniel said, cried in his arms. He’s afraid he’ll be homeless.
A tenant union
KC Tenants, which has flooded the city’s public budget hearings, points to another apartment tower near downtown to demand funding for tenant advocacy: Gabriel Towers.
Last summer, residents went without air conditioning for weeks. Every day when Pappy Stone woke up, he had to get out of his apartment and cool off in nearby stores. It was too hot to cook at home, so he spent his money on fast food.
“I was fearful that somebody may lose their life,” Stone said.
Not only that, but Gabriel Towers, near Interstate 70 and East Truman Road, has been cited more than once for mold, roaches, rodents and other hazards.
Not until Stone and his neighbors — largely elderly and disabled people — protested outside their building did anything change. They formed a rare tenant union to push for improvements.
Conditions are so severe that the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority, an agency that grants tax breaks, found Gabriel Towers in default.
“It’s been frustrating to think that the LCRA board has, in essence, been a babysitter for things that should have been done to ensure that there are safe living conditions for the tenants of this building,” said Councilwoman Andrea Bough, who serves on the LCRA board.
Kansas City’s Healthy Homes Rental Inspection Program is a good start to protect tenants, Bough said. The City Council needs to talk more about tenant advocacy. And she said members may need to consider creating a Housing Department and devote more staff to that issue.
Now, the residents are trying to bargain a collective lease, protected by city ordinance. But their landlord has said he can’t negotiate because the tenants have a model lease governed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
In an email, HUD’s regional public affairs director, Agatha Gutierrez, said modifications to Gabriel Towers’ model release must be approved by the department.
After the tenants formed their union, Stone said, management made a lot of promises but didn’t follow through.
“We had a lot of issues like the elevators going out, washers and dryers not working, leaks everywhere, mold everywhere, and they said they would address the issues,” Stone said, “but none of them really got addressed.”
Millennia Housing Management, which manages the building, did not provide further comment.
But Wilson Vance, a KC Tenants leader, brought it to the attention of City Council members in a public budget hearing last week, telling them tenants at Gabriel Towers are “fighting for their right to organize and collectively bargain.”
“That is in the Tenant Bill of Rights, and yet there is no one, no one … that is actually able to enforce their right to do that,” Vance said.
Budget deliberations
In the budget year ending April 30, City Council allocated funds for two employees to focus on tenant advocacy. The city hired just one person, who has been “triaging” calls, according to a city spokesman. But there’s some concern among council members that the office isn’t doing all it can.
“Never going to throw my city staff under a bus, I’ll just say we can always do better,” Mayor Quinton Lucas said. “And I know that they’re working hard under tough conditions.”
Under the budget proposal put forward by Lucas and City Manager Brian Platt, the city would spend $111,495 in general funding for tenant advocates. It includes $190,000 to contract with nonprofits that provide support for tenants being evicted and would add a staffer working on homeless initiatives.
The city will also be able to add short-term contractors through emergency rental assistance from the federal government.
KC Tenants says they should allocate $1.2 million.
“I really think we need more people in the city that (are) devoted to looking at housing needs, and those of the tenants and people who don’t have advocates for them,” Bough said. “So I would, I want to look at how the people that are there, their time is being used and what their role is.”
Bunch said the Office of the Tenant Advocate should be a one-stop shop for tenants to have their issues not only heard but resolved.
“We’re not there yet. I think we can get there,” Bunch said.
Landlord representatives who turned out to the city’s budget hearings spoke against more money for tenant advocacy. Several said the city’s funds would be better spent providing rent relief that could go to landlords so they wouldn’t evict tenants who have been hit by the pandemic.
Robert Long, of Kansas City-based Landlords Inc., told council members Tuesday that “spending millions of dollars in administrative costs” on tenant advocacy wouldn’t create more affordable housing.
“The answer is not to fund a staff of 18 for a department that, quite frankly, we’ve not seen any metrics of yet. … I would encourage you to consider that.”
Kansas City must pass a budget by the end of March. This year with the economic crisis, that budget is a far cry from the one council members passed last year to boost funding across departments.
Already, the city has spent half of its reserve funds. It’s expected to spend nearly one-third of the remaining reserve funds by April 30, 2022, under Lucas and Platt’s proposal.
Some council members are pushing for a budget with deeper cuts to avoid spending so much in reserves.
Lucas didn’t directly endorse Bunch’s desire to add more money for tenant advocacy, but he said he anticipated numerous proposed changes to the budget and would listen to them.
He suggested perhaps spending some of the $15 million in rent relief Kansas City has received to help with the issue. Lucas announced last week the city would partner with several local agencies to start distributing an initial $4.5 million of that rent and utility relief.
This story was originally published March 8, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
