KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Janice Dagley's friend is on the verge of eviction from her unit at Wesport House Apartment complex and says she has nowhere else to stay.
"I'm afraid I'm going to end up homeless and I'm scared to death," Dagley said.
Dagley, 75, is dealing with health issues, and has no friends or family to stay with.
She will be evicted in a matter of days from the apartment she's lived in for five years.
"It's really stressful," Dagley said. "I'm afraid I may end up at a shelter, be exposed to the virus."
She goes to Sunfresh across the street from her apartment and the clinic to pick up her prescription refills.
"Other than that, I don't go anywhere because, see, I'm in a high-risk category," Dagley said.
According to Dagley's attorney, Bob Murphy, the apartment management evicted her for a breach of contract and disagreements about the cleanliness of her apartment.
The apartment has bed bugs, though Dagley said she doesn't know where they came from.
Murphy said she did not pass an inspection after she was told to clean her apartment up.
"If somehow I could find an apartment in 10 days then I could move out, but I just don't have a lot of energy right now," Dagley said.
The complex's owner, Westport Ministry in Housing, Inc., took Dagley to court over the summer.
Murphy came to an agreement with the attorneys for the complex, Christopher Barhorst and Brian Griggs, that she'd move out within 45 days. A month has already gone by.
Murphy says trying to find affordable and subsidized senior housing has been extremely difficult during the pandemic.
"It's really hard to find another place because almost every landlord has a policy that says if you have a recent eviction, they wont rent to you," Jane Worley with the Legal Aid of Western Missouri said.
Worley said although the CDC issued an eviction ban, it only applies to people who are unable to pay rent due to COVID, which isn't the case for Dagley.
"There's more help now than there used to be for people who can't pay rent because of the CARES Act, but if they really want to get rid of someone who's current on their rent the only way to do that is by claiming they have breached their lease," Worley said.
Dagley says she isn't sure where she'll end up, "It's a difficult situation," she said.
41 Action news reached out to the apartment's management and attorneys but did not hear back.
