‘This is war’: Protester arrested as KC approves change to housing affordability rate


Anna Spoerre, Kevin Hardy
Thu, August 18, 2022

 Kansas City, Missouri, United States


Chaos erupted Thursday at City Hall as Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas shouted for his colleagues to keep voting over the chanting of KC Tenants members who overpowered the council meeting.

One leader with the advocacy group was arrested and escorted out of council chambers as dozens of KC Tenants members demonstrated against an ordinance proposed by Lucas that would grow the city’s housing inventory.

Lucas’ proposal eases the requirements for developers to create affordable housing. Opponents have balked at the city’s calculation for affordability, which would classify nearly $1,200 a month for a one-bedroom apartment as affordable. Critics have said this cost doesn’t reflect affordable rent options for most working class Kansas Citians. Others have said the plan was too rushed. An attempt by Councilwoman Andrea Bough, District 6 at-large, to hold the ordinance a week failed.

Councilwoman Melissa Robinson, who represents District 3 on the East Side, voted in favor of the ordinance, arguing that it would make way for more homes and a growing middle class in the district.

Robinson grew up in the district where she shared a block with professionals like doctors and a judge. She wants to see that again.

“We need people to come back home to the 3rd District,” she said.

Yet, she acknowledged that the ordinance is not going to improve living situations for those most vulnerable.

“This is not affordability for everyone,” she said. “But it’s affordability for some people, especially middle-class people.”

Maya Neal, a member of KC Tenants, was handcuffed and led out of the Kansas City Council chamber Thursday afternoon after protesters began shouting as city council members debated legislation on affordable housing. About 50 members of the city wide tenant union were on hand to protest the passing of housing legislation despite tenants showing strong opposition to the current definition of affordability.

But Councilman Brandon Ellington, District 3 at-large, noted that the ordinance does nothing to incentivize development in distressed parts of the city.

“This ain’t for the East Side,” he said. “This ain’t for the 3rd District.”

Ellington underscored that all the ordinance does is change the affordability threshold for developers.

“Anything else is theory,” he said.

The ordinance ultimately passed 9-4 before the overwhelming chants of KC Tenants forced council members to prematurely adjourn the meeting and hold over remaining agenda items until next week.

Ellington voted against the ordinance alongside Bough, Councilman Eric Bunch, District 4, and Heather Hall, District 1.

The council also moved legislation putting a $175 million bond issue before voters in November. If approved, the new debt would fund improvements to Bartle Hall, city pools and add $50 million into the city’s affordable housing trust fund. All council members but Ellington voted in favor.
The housing plan

The housing plan will create more lenient affordable housing requirements for private developers seeking city incentives. Under this change, the city will need to set aside fewer affordable units or the cost of units marked affordable will be raised.

Lucas’ legislative package is in response to a measure unanimously approved by council in January 2021 requiring that real estate developers seeking government financial aid include affordable units in most apartment projects, or pay into the housing trust fund. That legislation required one-fifth of the units in most taxpayer-subsidized apartment buildings to be affordable. Half of those had to be affordable to families earning 70% of the area median income and the other half to those earning 30%.

The new proposal changes that. In exchange for incentives, developers will have to set aside one-fifth of their units to those earning 60% of the area median income.

At that rate, the city would deem a one-bedroom apartment that costs $1,172 per month affordable to a single person. A family of three earning about $53,000 per year, for example, would qualify for a subsidized two-bedroom apartment that rents for $1,319 per month.

In the past 18 months, since that legislation passed, no new apartment complexes seeking taxpayer-funded incentives were proposed in Kansas City. Lucas has said he hopes the latest legislation will boost the supply of housing in the city and help slow the rapid rise in rents for people who can least afford it.

“We’re a city that needs to build more housing, and I’m concerned when people aren’t building housing in Kansas City,” Lucas said in an earlier interview. “We need more product to make sure that we can have places for people to live in our city, and I think this is a bold proposal that does that.”

A second piece of the mayor’s legislative package was held Wednesday. That piece, if passed, would fundamentally alter the approval process for projects receiving taxpayer incentives by giving the city manager power to approve standardized incentives for projects, rather than the City Council and economic development boards that now have oversight.

The mayor has said this change would help “fast track” projects, adding that developers have said it’s too difficult to build in Kansas City. Affordable housing advocates have argued that this ordinance would reduce opportunities for debate through public meetings.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas struggled to communicate with City Council members while members of KC Tenants protested Thursday afternoon in council chambers at City Hall. The council left the chamber to continue their meeting elsewhere.

KC Tenants opposes mayor’s plan

KC Tenants has been among the most vocal opposition to the ordinance.

The advocacy group conducted a survey with more than 700 participants who reported earning $2,500 a month, on average, and spending about $1,400 of it on housing expenses.

This comes out to more than half of their monthly earnings.

Those who put more than 30% of their income towards housing are considered cost-burdened, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Those who put more than half their income towards housing are considered “severely cost-burdened.” This can affect people’s ability to afford other essential items, like groceries.

In Kansas City, the median cost of rent is $1,326, up 13% since July 2021. In certain ZIP codes, the median rent price is up by 42%. For many, these housing costs are rising much faster than incomes, Michael Frisch, urban planning professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, previously told The Star.

KC Tenants has pointed to inflation as a reason for affordability numbers looking higher than expected.

Tiana Caldwell, an organizer with the group and a member of the city’s health commission, was the sole person arrested Thursday, KC Tenants leaders said.

“I helped to found KC Tenants three and a half years ago and the mayor looked me in the face and promised he would fight for me. Now he’s selling me out,” she said in a statement Thursday afternoon. “They showed me I have to fight to survive. I’ll keep fighting. I’m going to be here and they’re going to have to face me every time. I have no fear. This is war.”

The Star’s Kynala Phillips and Mike Hendricks contributed.

Members of KC Tenants disrupted a City council meeting Thursday afternoon at City Hall. The protesters began shouting as city council members debated legislation on affordable housing. About 50 members of the city wide tenant union were on hand to protest the passing of housing legislation despite tenants showing strong opposition to the current definition of affordability.

Kansas City relaxes rules for housing developers. Here’s what that could mean for rent


Kynala Phillips
Sat, August 20, 2022 

In a heated Thursday meeting, the Kansas City Council voted to relax affordable housing requirements for developers seeking tax incentives from the city, walking back on a set of rules that the council approved unanimously about a year and a half ago.

Passed in a 9-4 vote, the ordinance allows tax incentives to go to developers without the requirement of setting aside “extremely affordable” units for tenants with low incomes. Developers will still have to set aside some units as affordable, but the rent rate for these units is higher: about $1,200 a month for a one-bedroom apartment.

The ordinance received intense pushback from housing groups, namely the citywide tenant union KC Tenants, but also Kansas City Public Schools because of the way tax breaks for developers affect how much potential property tax revenue will go to city schools.

Kansas City tenants make an average monthly income of $2,500 and pay more than half of that to housing costs, according to early findings from a KC Tenants online survey with 700 respondents. Paying the city-deemed affordable rent of $1,200 for the average survey respondent would still take up nearly half of their income, which the federal government considers a “severe cost-burden.”

This new ordinance was just a piece of a package of housing policies Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas proposed recently. Here’s what it actually means for renters, and how other recent city council decisions could affect rent, too.

What exactly did the city council pass?

The city council passed one piece of a new housing plan, also known as ordinance 220700.

In exchange for tax incentives from the city, the new ordinance requires housing developers to set aside one-fifth—or 20%—of the housing units in a new development as “affordable” for people who are earning 60% of the median family income. The remaining majority of housing units in proposed developments can be market rate.

The council also voted to add a $175 million bond issue for Kansas City voters to decide on in November. If approved, $50 million of that money would go toward the city’s affordable Housing Trust Fund—more on that in a second.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas struggled to communicate with city council members while members of KC Tenants protested Thursday afternoon in council chambers at City Hall. About 50 members of the citywide tenant union were on hand to oppose the passing of housing legislation.

How does the city decide what rent is affordable?

The city calculates what’s considered “affordable” based on the federally-set median family income for the Kansas City metro area. This median income number factors in the incomes of homeowners and renters in both rich and poor areas in the metro, including areas like Johnson County.

For a single person, the area median income is about $68,000. For a family of four, It’s about $98,000.

The city uses this federally-set number to come up with what the income limits and rent caps will be for specially set aside “affordable” apartments in new developments.

Affordable housing advocates criticize this method because they argue that including higher income homeowners and jurisdictions skews the median income higher than what many city tenants actually make. They argue that with this kind of calculation, even rents that are deemed “affordable” by the city are still unaffordable to many Kansas City tenants.

What’s so different about the new affordability rules from the old ones?

The main change is that the city raised the income threshold it will use to calculate what rent is affordable for the specially set aside units in new developments.

Under the newly passed rules, the city will base the rent caps and income limits for affordable apartments on 60% of the median income.

The past requirements included apartments for those making up to 30% of the median income, as well as those making up to 70% of the median income.

That change from the previous rules setting aside apartments for those making 30% of the median income, to the new rules setting aside apartments for those making 60% of the median income, almost doubles the cost of rent that the city now considers affordable.

The mayor’s reasoning for changing these rules is that no developers applied for tax incentives in the first year and a half these affordability rules were in place.

District 3 Councilwoman Melissa Robinson voted in favor of the relaxed requirements, but she acknowledged that the new rules won’t benefit Kansas Citians with lower incomes.

“This is not affordability for everyone,” she said on Thursday. “But it’s affordability for some people, especially middle-class people.”

Last week, Mayor Quinton Lucas unveiled a legislative package that relaxes affordability requirements for developers building new housing in Kansas City.

What do these new rules actually mean for rent?

When developers get money from the city to build new housing, they will need to keep the rent for a certain number of apartments affordable to those making up to 60% of the median income. Then after that, the majority of the units in these new tax-backed developments will be market rate.

According to the city’s calculations, 60% of the median income for a two-person household in the Kansas City metro is about $47,000. One of these set aside affordable one bedroom apartments for that household would have a rent around $1,200.

The benchmark for affordable rent changes depending on the size and income of the household.

A family of four earning around $59,000 per year, for instance, could qualify for a three bedroom apartment with rent around $1,500.

What’s the reason behind the change?

Since those previous regulations were put in place in 2021, the city didn’t get any applications from developers looking to receive tax incentives and build affordable housing. The mayor suggested that relaxing the requirements would encourage developers to break ground throughout the city.

The city’s Economic Development Corporation did receive 31 applications for housing projects looking for tax breaks right before the council passed the 2021 ordinance for affordability regulations. That was the most applications received for projects seeking tax breaks in over three years.

“Unfortunately, since that time we’ve not seen the production of units,” Lucas said during the Neighborhood Planning and Development Committee on Wednesday.
Did the council pass anything else that will affect housing?

Yes, council also voted to put a $175 million bond issue on Kansas City voters’ November ballot.

This money would be coming from a general obligation bond, which is almost like a loan for local governments.

If voters approve the bond, it would put money toward a number of projects in the city.

Those projects include $45 million in repairs to Bartle Hall, $80 million in community center renovations (think swimming pools, playgrounds and other amenities) and $50 million toward the city’s Housing Trust Fund.

City residents voted on a similar GO bond in 2017, which went toward repairing the city’s infrastructure. The $800 million bond will be paid back by way of city taxes, including property taxes.
What is the Housing Trust Fund, and how will the extra money be used?

The Housing Trust Fund is a pot of government money that the city has reserved for helping fund affordable housing projects throughout the city.

Last month, 14 affordable housing projects were approved for $8 million in funding.

The Housing Trust Fund currently does not have close to the amount of money in it that it was designed to have. The fund is made up of $12.5 million of federal COVID relief funds from the American Rescue Plan, and an additional $10.5 million in local money that will be distributed over the next 25 years.

If voters approve the upcoming $175 million bond issue in November, the Housing Trust Fund will receive $50 million, which will put it closer to its intended $75 million budget.

Projects applying to receive money from the trust fund are screened and reviewed by a board of local housing advocates and experts. Those proposals are then sent to the city council for approval.

So what’s next?

The mayor’s original housing plan also included a measure that would fundamentally change the way new development projects getting tax breaks are approved in City Hall by giving the city manager power to approve standardized incentives for projects, rather than the City Council and economic development boards that now have oversight.

The mayor has said this change would help “fast track” projects, adding that developers have said it’s too difficult to build in Kansas City. Affordable housing advocates have argued that this ordinance would reduce opportunities for debate through public meetings.

This piece of the plan was put on hold during Wednesday’s Neighborhood Planning and Development committee meeting, as well as an ordinance that would regulate accessory dwelling units.

The Star’s Kevin Hardy and Anna Spoerre contributed reporting.

This story was republished to change the headline from “Here’s how that could raise rents” to “Here’s what that could mean for rent” because the ordinance only directly changes the rules and raises the rent caps for future developments. It does not directly change current rents in Kansas City development projects.