Kansas City Missouri introduced its Ordinance 231019 mid December 2023. Commonly called the Source of Income Ordinance, when discussed at a December City Council Meeting, was held over until January 25th. Below is the video of the discussion at the January 25th city council meeting.
Kansas City Missouri’s Source of Income Ordinance #231019
Presented as the most restrictive in the country and as being written 100% by KC Tenants, 231019 was initially a few lines in the Tenant’s Bill of Rights several years ago. Back then, the concept of forcing a US Citizen to take part in a Voluntary Government Subsidy Program like Section 8 was objectionable to the several 100 housing providers in the room and Mayor Lucas lined it out. Based on his statements in the video above from the 25th, it seems that he has been working since that time with KC Tenants to bring this ordinance to the table.
Since the introduction in December, housing providers have been working hard to defeat the ordinance but learned that we were not going to have much luck defeating it completely. But with all the emails, phone calls, and meetings held, we were able to get a lot of the more objectionable items removed or changed and now we have a repair fund that they are working on.
Highlights of the Changes Made to the Source of Income Ordinance
There is a lot in this ordinance, and many of the original aspects of the ordinance have changed in almost two months of intense negotiations since it passed the committee in early December. Those changes are reflected in the ordinance that passed today. Councilmembers representing both sides worked very hard to coalesce around common goals that each side shared, with many of us offering support, assistance, and guidance along the way.
Created a $1 million Landlord Risk Mitigation Program to provide landlords money offsetting costs associated with accepting voucher tenants.
Created a landlord liaison position in the City’s Housing Department
Clarified that landlords can deny rental applications based on individualized factors about criminal convictions, credit score, evictions, alleged damages, rent-to-income ratio, etc., and clarified that violent and sexual offenses are grounds for denying an application.
Permitted consideration of recent evictions and alleged damages, within a year. Older evictions and alleged damages may be considered holistically.
Prevented publication of landlord names if landlords were the subject of disciplinary action or conciliation agreements.
Publication of names is allowed only if a permit is suspended.
Excluded property sales from source-of-income discrimination protections.
Removed the ability of CREO director to conduct audits with testers.
Limited systematic investigations to only landlords who have been investigated and found to have committed discrimination and failed to reach a conciliation agreement.
A delayed effective date of the policy until 6 months after passage.
Clarified that investigations can end without prosecution of a complaint.
Clarified that all consideration of a prospective tenant’s application must be consistent with fair housing laws and all other state and federal laws.
Created exceptions for old houses with architecture that cannot be easily brought into compliance with code, which are not required to abide by source-of-income rules.
Provided that landlords are not responsible or liable for relying on third-party information to reject a tenant.
Empowered CREO director to direct how tenants shall be informed of their rights under the ordinance.
We all need time to digest what this document says. There may be more changes coming as some sections might need some adjustment and we would like to have our leaders and legal advisors to digest the document and tell us what we need to do to comply this summer.
Many Thanks to All Who Took Action
Many thanks to the 100s of people locally who sent emails and made phone calls. Many thanks to the 100’s of people nationwide that send an email. Many thanks to those who took surveys to help us find the data needed. Many thanks to the people who put in countless hours in meetings and kept everyone else engaged. And a huge thank you to Stacey Johnson-Cosby for never taking no for an answer.
If you are considering purchasing rental property in the city of Kansas City Missouri, please pay attention, this is the 3rd round of regulations proposed by the ‘tenant advocacy’ group and they have more coming. It seems that the majority of the city council is on board with this plan.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Mark Your Calendars for the Afternoon of January 25 and Make Plans to Attend the City Council Meeting
Read through this page – click on things and educate yourself on what is happening.
Note the bottom of this page is where we started, top is the present day. Form your own opinions.
Send testimony on Ordinance #231019 to public.testimony@kcmo.org Call and Email the Mayor and the City Council with your thoughts.
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Notes from Housing Industry Meetings
There are a lot of people from various groups Realtors, Housing Providers, Property Managers, Apartment Owners, National Industry People, Neighborhoods, and more all working and meeting with city council members to defeat this ordinance or at least get a less bad version of it for the city council to consider on January 25th. We sure hope the city council actually reads the ordinance before signing off on it. We are hoping to change text and wording so that it will not raise rents quite as much, nor take advantage of renters quite as much, and not make anyone participate in Section 8.
Several on the city council are concerned that the ordinance would affect the black housing provider, and while we feel it will affect all housing providers and all renters badly, if you are a black housing provider, please reach out to Henry Lyons or Stacey Johnson-Cosby and the City Council as your story needs to be pushed to the front of the line. They are now looking for Hispanic Housing Providers.
This is getting national attention as Jeff Watson, one of the attorneys who lobby on behalf of our Industry in DC has sent out a request to all his followers across the country to send a message to our city council. Dave Pickron from RentPerfect and his attorney who happens to be local and previously worked for HUD have provided input and sat in on meetings as they have seen similar ordinances passed in other areas where rents increased and not much changed in the way of Housing Voucher acceptance. But our ordinance is different because it talks about how we are to screen renters, and it has penalties for being reported for violations 3 times. This is a very concerning item to over 90% of the housing providers locally.
A few people are all bent out of shape that not enough housing providers accept Housing Vouchers and that 1000s of people can find a place to rent. When in fact, there are 1000s of people waiting to get a voucher due to lack of funding at the federal level, but only between 300 and 400 vouchers that can’t find a unit to rent, and many of those are vouchers looking for studio and 1 bedroom units that just don’t exist currently in large enough numbers. Sure you can make a 3-bedroom unit owner accept a voucher, but that is not going to help someone with a studio or 1-bedroom voucher.
On Screening, they have now decided that for each of the items we use to screen, if the applicant fails any one, we need to dig deeper and learn more before we say no, that they have to fail in two areas to be turned down. We see this becoming even more of a burden on renters as now they can look at set criteria and save themselves time and money by not applying. If what is written passes, this will not be so cut and dried, the criteria can’t be provided up front, instead all applicants will have to apply and pay their fee, and then if they don’t meet minimum requirements, get turned down. And because Fair Housing laws require a housing provider to treat everyone the same, and the ordinance is a bit touchy feely on how you need to dig deeper, the housing provider will have to dig deeper and ask more questions on every category important to them of everyone who applies. Overall, it will make the process harder, take more time and cost everyone housing providers and renters applying more money. Those costs to the housing provider will just be passed on to the renter.
We also see rents rising. More time and money in general will increase costs. All the experts who manage Section 8 rentals, including the director of the Housing Authority all agree that managing a Section 8 unit costs more and takes more knowledge, so that will raise rents and then we will have the people raising rents to above Section 8 values all in efforts to avoid taking the vouchers.
Others are highly concerned about who is promoting this whole agenda. KC Tenants are quite vocal that they wrote this ordinance (and several past ordinances) and all the items in it were in the original Tenants Bill of Rights and were removed before that got passed. Do a little digging to find out that KC Tenants was started by Tara Raghuveer who immigrated to the US from Australia and grew up in Kansas City. She is also the Homes Guarantee Campaign Director which has afforded her meetings with officials in Washington and is behind the National Tenant’s Bill of Rights that the White House is Pushing. Homes Guarantee is an initiative of the People’s Action. For some interesting reading, you need to read about KC Tenants Power, their Platform as well as the Homes Guarantee Briefing Book. Plus look up who is funding all of this, because it is far from Grass Roots and more a well-funded campaign.
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Public Testimony – Rose Eilts,: I will have to sell my property if you approve it. I keep my rents low, but I’m sure a new owner will jack them up. Less affordable housing.
Public Testimony – Dawn Davidson: KC is becoming a city where I no longer want to provide housing. I can take my business elsewhere.
Public Testimony – Ted Harrison: I have already started selling my properties to homeowners because I am tired of dealing with Kansas City regulations. We fought this four years ago.
Public Testimony – Ken and Becky Henderson, more regulations will force me to sell the multiple properties that I own and other small landlords get out of the business. More regulations means more homeless people
Public Testimony – D. Herman In making this ordinance, it’s essential to have the housing providers at the table. They are the people that are the essence of this ordinance…without their involvement, this amendment is ill-informed, one sided, and exclusionary.
Public Testimony – Howard Adams I owned rentals in Kansas City for over 40 years. This last year has seen me sell all I had left. I sold out for 1 reason, if you can’t make a living from your business you go out of business. . . This change is the direct result of the changes in city requirements and the ongoing war being waged by the tenants groups against housing providers. THey have stated clearly that their objective is to have the government take total control of all rental housing.
Public testimony – Pamela Enlow In my business, most clients have sold their properties since COVID. My business is a fraction of what it used to be and I will probably retire soon due to this situation.
Resolution #231039 was passed as amended to 45 days for the research and study of incentives (12/14)
What Happened Tuesday the 12th at the Committee Meeting?
Housing Providers were way outnumbered.
The Meeting Started Very Late
The Mayor and KC Tenants Made a Presentation For the Ordinance
We heard from The Show Me Institute against. (Read Testimony)
We heard from several who support the ordinance
We heard from several who opposed including
Stacey Johnson-Cosby, Jennifer Justice, Dennis Watts, Deborah Washam and a few others
Who stated their case well.
At that point, the Mayor took a show of hands for and against.
And then there was some discussion on holding the ordinance until the next meeting of the committee sometime in January. But one person was adamant it pass on to the Council and be heard Thursday. A motion was made, not sure by whom, and voted Do Pass.
Both ordinances may be on the agenda for the December 14th Council Meeting at 3 pm.
City Committee Meeting Tuesday, December 12th
Ordinance 231019: Agenda Page on the City Website – where meeting information will be posted as it is created, note that often links to the city meetings are not posted until the night before or the morning of the meeting.
This Ordinance Discussion on Source of Income in the Media
The Apartment Association of Kansas City sent out a call to action to their members about this ordinance and makes some great valid points:
Make Source of Income a protected class for tenants
Not allow housing providers to use adverse credit reports, lack of credit history, prior evictions, property damage, and prior convictions or arrests to solely refuse to rent to a tenant.
Increase “personal reference” importance over rental, credit, and criminal history of a tenant.
Make Housing Voucher participation mandatory, not voluntary for housing providers.
Penalize housing providers for failure to comply with hefty fines, criminal penalties, and serious probationary periods.
Allow for random audits and undercover individuals acting as tenants with no intent to rent property.
Increase disclosure requirements for housing providers to tenants of their rights when signing a lease.
This letter was forwarded to the ‘tenant advocacy group’ who proceeded to mark it up and post it on Twitter or X or what ever it’s called today. This made it to Tony’s Kansas City Blog.
Things of Concern in Ordinance 231019
How to file a complaint New:
Making Complaint: Any person claiming injury by an allegedly unlawful discriminatory practice may, by himself, a designated representative or by a city official, submit a complaint with the director by calling 311, emailing an email address designated by the Civil Rights Enforcement Office, or visiting the Civil Rights Enforcement Office in person during business hours. This complaint shall state the name and address of the person or business entity alleged to have committed the unlawful discriminatory practice complained of and which shall set forth the particulars thereof and contain such other information as may be required by the director for the investigation of the complaint. Previously it required a signed, filed, and verified complaint on forms.
Any person found in violation of a prohibited discriminatory practice or retaliation based on source of income, which includes, among other things, all violations of Section 38- 105(d), shall be subject to a fine of $1000.00. (Note other fair housing discrimination carries fines of $500.
Stacey Johnson-Cosby’s Radio Interview on 12/4/2023
Stacey Johnson-Cosby, President of the KC Regional Housing Alliance speaks to the dangers of the potential new city ordinance on Pete Mundo Mornings a KCMO Talk Radio show. Johnson-Cosby has been a fierce advocate for fair housing policies that will do right by both tenants and property owners.
Proposed Ordinance in Kansas City Missouri to Ban the Source of Income
The local group who claim to be tenant advocates are back at it again this year with their sights set on banning the use of a source of income when housing providers select tenants. Plus a ban on the use of credit scores, evictions, arrests, convictions, and even income requirements when we perform our screening processes.
Kansas City Missouri Special Committee for Legal Review Tuesday 12/12 at 1:00 pm
This is a Committee chaired by Mayor Lucas (a sponsor of this ordinance) and has two other members Andrea Bough (also a sponsor) and Melissa Robinson. Stacey Johnson-Cosby is gathering data and will be hosting a planning session on Tuesday 12/5 at 10:00 am. (To join us at this planning meeting, please add your name and contact info to our list or the names and contacts of people who should be invited)
At the time of its introduction, the ordinance is co-sponsored by SIX of the 13 members of the City Council. Thank you,
Mayor Lucas (ordinance sponsor), Mayor Pro Tem Rayna Parks Shaw, and Councilmembers Eric Bunch, Darrell Curls, Andrea Bough, and Jonathan Duncan.
“Although landlords are commonly known as greedy bastards, this virtual opportunity could be a way to help families pay their rent which is a win-win situation for tenants and landlords.”
A federal judge in Texas ruled on Thursday that an order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) temporarily halting evictions amid the pandemic is unconstitutional.
In a 21-page ruling, U.S. District Judge John Barker sided with a group of landlords and property managers who alleged in a lawsuit that the CDC’s eviction moratorium exceeded the federal government’s constitutional authority.
The Other Side of Rent Debt: Five Small-Time Landlords Who Are Stuck
“The building will still be standing, but I won’t be.”
Being played out across the country, these stories of 5 everyday people who happen to own rental property in New York show that without “meaningful support, small landlords are scrambling to bridge the gap.” Many may spend all their savings keeping units afloat or lose them to foreclosure.