KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Rents are due on the first of the month and some people are finding it hard to pay.
A moratorium on evictions expired at the end of May in Jackson County.
Tara Raghuveer with KC Tenants said the organization is hearing more stories of people facing homelessness.
“I just got off the phone with a tenant in our base who’s facing eviction in two weeks in the landlord docket and she does everything for her kids, but there’s nothing you can do at a certain point if you’ve lost two or your three income streams and you simply don’t have the savings. You don’t have the social network to get by,” Raghuveer explained.
Raghuveer said the COVID-19 pandemic has financially hurt a lot of renters.
But Stacey Johnson-Cosby, president of KC Regional Housing Alliance, said the pandemic is also having an impact on property owners as well.
“The ones that weren’t able to get the rent from their tenants had to go to their mortgage companies and perhaps get a forbearance. But the thing that doesn’t stop is that the payment for the repairs, the insurance, hiring someone to make the repairs, property taxes. All of the costs to maintain the property always go on,” Johnson-Cosby explained.
Raghuveer said a solution to keeping people in their homes is extending the eviction moratorium for at least six months.
“The limited protection offered by the eviction moratorium is gone. So not only are folks under the stress of the public health crisis and the spiking COVID numbers and the loss of employment, now they’re also getting served eviction notices," she said.
Johnson-Cosby argued the solution to keeping renters in their homes is not a moratorium on evictions, instead, it’s communication.
“What we’re hoping is that tenants reach out and communicate with their landlords if they’re not going to be able to make the rent. So that’s the biggest message we’re trying to get out there," Johnson-Cosby said.
People looking for resources can go find them from KC Tenants online.
People can also find resources from the Greater Kansas City Coalition to End Homelessness.
