Squatters at Kansas City man’s home getting worse. Can anyone help? | Opinion
I’d hate to be a pessimist here, but things aren’t looking all that great for Timothy Friese of Kansas City.
Friese is the 65-year-old man I wrote about recently whose home in the 3200 block of Donnelly Avenue was overrun by squatters. He told me he wants to sell the home, which is located less than a block north of U.S. Highway 40 just before Stadium Drive, and rid himself of the problems there.
So far, there have been no buyers.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Friese said during a recent visit there.
My goal in highlighting this untenable situation and the unhealthy living conditions was to implore the city to clean up the mess without getting Friese in further trouble with code inspectors or having officials place an undue financial burden on him. That hasn’t changed.
After recent visits to the home, it became obvious to me that Kansas City’s Neighborhood Services Department and police may have to take a more aggressive approach to this illegal encampment. And I say that with genuine concern for Friese, who is ill with a heart problem, and the people who are living in and outside the house. Neither he nor they seem to have better living options, and that saddens me.
But Friese has to take the initiative and file trespassing charges against the people staying there uninvited. He said some of the visitors are welcome, but others aren’t. Until he takes legal action, there’s not much Kansas City police can do to get folks to leave.
However, the quality of living for Friese’s neighbors is of utmost importance, and they don’t deserve to live near such an unhealthy and unsafe environment.
The city must act — and fast. But officials cannot just displace Friese or his guests without offering all of them any services available for people facing homelessness.
Illegal encampment on site
When I first visited Friese’s property, piles of trash were strewn about the front and back yards, and people were housed in makeshift living quarters around the back. A shack on a property adjacent to Friese’s home had also been overtaken by squatters.
On a return visit this week, not much had changed. In fact, the circumstances were seemingly worse. On this trip, gone was the disabled minivan parked on the front lawn — an unidentified woman clearly was living in that vehicle. In its place was a large recreational vehicle. An unidentified man could be seen walking in and out of the motor home while I was there Wednesday.
A neighbor, Ron Sondag, was none too pleased about the ongoing saga he said was not getting much better.
“Those people need to go,” Sondag said. “I don’t know where they would go, but they need to leave.”
The longtime neighbor added that he felt bad for Friese — “I knew his parents and they’d be so disappointed in what’s going on over there,” he said — but his main concern was with the filth associated with the property.
“I found dead rats in my yard that I guess the cats drug over here,” Sondag said.
It was Sondag’s tip that first drew my attention to a situation he said has been going on far too long.
“It needs to end,” he said.
Homelessness prevention coordinator wants to help
The same day my first piece about this illegal encampment on private property ran, I received a text message from Josh Henges, Kansas City’s homelessness prevention coordinator. In the correspondence, Henges said he wanted to help Friese and asked me to meet him at the property. One of the things that Henges said to me during the visit was that Friese had to be willing to accept the services being offered to him.
I don’t believe that he has.
In a follow-up email this week, Henges wrote: “We have met with him several times and offered to connect him to available services. If he chooses to engage, we stand ready to assist, including through the Homeless Court program we helped create to address legal issues. At this point, however, it is his decision how to proceed with his home and the guests he has invited. Until he makes that decision, the matter is not a homelessness issue but rather a neighborhood code or enforcement concern.”
Henges added that the city respects the community’s expectation that neighborhood issues like this one be resolved, but enforcement lies outside the homelessness prevention department’s scope.
“It is also important that our division not be directly tied to enforcement activities, as that undermines our ability to build trust with both service providers and people experiencing homelessness,” Henges said.
Limited income
Friese makes very little money and said he has no family to help him financially. He said his only income was a monthly Social Security check he received for a little more than $300.
In August, city code inspectors cited Friese for various violations — five in all. He was subjected to a fine of $100 per day for each violation and possible jail time. He has until October to remedy the situation — but without the financial means to do so, Friese’s best bet is to take advantage of the city’s Homeless Court option that Henges mentioned in his email to me.
Otherwise, this story will have a much different ending for Friese and the people squatting on his property than I’d hope for.
This story was originally published September 27, 2025 at 5:08 AM.
