Kansas City just gave low-wage tenants a big boost. It can’t drop the leadership ball
Terrence Wise says he’s “ecstatic” that Kansas City has launched its first-ever Tenants’ Right to Counsel program, which will provide an attorney, free of charge, to any city resident facing eviction. But he’s also concerned about the program having staying power.
Why? No one has been hired yet to run the program, which was approved by a city ordinance in December 2021.
The program went into effect Wednesday, so getting a director needs to happen expeditiously. The residents who spent many months fighting and negotiating with officials and nonprofits to see this happen need to know the city intends to make sure no tenant facing eviction in Kansas City has to be in court without legal representation ever again.
Wise, a 42-year-old fast food worker and the father of three girls, has been in that predicament before. Faced with eviction, he showed up in court with no attorney — because if he couldn’t afford his rent, how could he afford an attorney, right?
Wise went to court with all he had, $600. He and his fiancée, both working low-wage jobs, were about $1,100 behind with the rent. He watched as his landlord’s lawyer and the judge chatted, out of his earshot, at the judge’s bench.
That day, deep in the winter of 2015, the couple were given 10 days to vacate their two-bedroom apartment. With no place to go, the family of five spent several cold nights wrapped in blankets in their minivan parked across from the Burger King where Wise worked at the time.
He’s at McDonald’s now, and even though he’s doing better, he knows that life is precarious for him and his fellow low-wage workers. Lost hours, a lost job or a medical condition that keeps you out of work could quickly land you and your family in eviction court.
So far, at a cost of $700,000, the city has contracted with four organizations to provide the free legal assistance and support to tenant families through the eviction process.
There also will be a call navigator program, recommended by Legal Aid of Western Missouri, the Heartland Center for Jobs and Freedom, the University of Missouri-Kansas City and United Way, aimed at providing information to those Kansas Citians facing eviction in Jackson, Clay, Platte or Cass counties. There are no income requirements to participate in this program — another step in the right direction by Kansas City to address the crisis of housing insecurity, affordable housing and issues of homelessness here.
But getting a person to take charge of the program is crucial for providing direction and advocacy. The director of the city’s housing department, Jane Brown, is currently overseeing the Right to Counsel program on an interim basis.
“I want to assure that there is someone at the city coordinating this program,” said 6th District at-large Councilwoman Andrea Bough, who stood with tenants and housing advocacy groups on Wednesday as they rallied at City Hall demanding full implementation of the Right to Counsel program. “This program is a huge undertaking. We need someone focused on this.”
A program like this can have a transformative effect on the poor and low-wage workers across this city. It can make a huge difference in boosting achievement levels of public schoolchildren whose families in the past have been forced to move from house to house during the year because of evictions.
Kansas City is one of only 13 cities in the country with a program like this one. And that puts the city in an admirable spot. The deputy for local housing initiatives position has been advertised “for some time,” Bough said. The deadline for submitting an application for the job closes in a week. And City Manager Brian Platt has promised us the position will be filled “as fast as possible.”
Even as they celebrated Wednesday’s victory, tenant advocates were rightfully concerned and we are too. It’s urgent that the city hires someone soon to assure the program does not stumble out of the gate.
And that the praise continues to be deserving.