Eviction filings on the rise again in Jackson County despite national moratorium
Photo for the Kansas City Eviction Project by Nicholas Valdez.
This report was created by Kansas City Eviction Project and KC Tenants. Kansas City Eviction Project is a collaborative effort involving researchers, community organizers, neighborhood leaders, lawyers, and policymakers. Jed Dougherty, lead data scientist at Dataiku, acquired and cleaned the electronic court records. McKenzie Humann mapped and analyzed the data.
Oct. 1 UPDATE
More than 1,700 evictions were filed since a Jackson County moratorium lifted May 31
The CDC national moratorium effective Sept. 4 slowed filings initially but more than 60 cases were filed during weeks of Sept. 14 and 21.
A disproportionate number of filings continue to impact Jackson County’s majority non-white neighborhoods.
In response to the Coronavirus pandemic and tenant demands, the 16th Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri issued an eviction moratorium in March. That moratorium expired on May 31, and the Court failed to extend it, even as unemployment remained high and COVID-19 spread across the state.
Since June, Jackson County has heard evictions both in-person and by remote teleconference hearings.
On Sept. 1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a nationwide moratorium on evictions for rent nonpayment. The order went into effect Sept. 4. This report, based on eviction filings data drawn from county court electronic records, studies evictions in Jackson County since June, including a special focus on September, focusing on the impact of the CDC moratorium.
Since Jackson County’s eviction moratorium lifted on May 31, landlords have filed over 1,700 evictions. Landlords filed 442 evictions between Sept. 1 and Sept. 25 (our latest datapoint), or an average of 23 per business day.
Nearly half of those September evictions were filed in the three days between the CDC’s moratorium announcement and the date it went into effect, Sept. 4. Landlords rushed to file evictions before they were subject to new restrictions.
Eviction filings, May 31 to Sept. 15
South Kansas City, Raytown, and Independence have been the eviction hotspots in Jackson County this summer. Kansas City’s urban core (east of Troost) has continued to be an eviction hotspot. The data suggest that landlords continue to disproportionately file evictions in Jackson County’s majority non-white neighborhoods.
Evictions filed by case type, May 31 to Sept. 25
This graph shows evictions filed in Jackson County, each week since May 31. Rent and Possession is the case type that landlords file for rent nonpayment evictions. After the Jackson County Circuit Court ended our eviction moratorium, landlords filed more and more rent-related evictions through the summer. In September, the CDC moratorium reduced rent eviction filings for one week, but landlords are once again filing rent evictions, with over 60 filings the weeks of Sept. 14 and Sept. 21.
Evictions filed by case type, Aug. 31 to Sept. 25
This graph shows evictions filed each day since August 31. The daily filings demonstrate even more clearly the spike in rent eviction filings immediately following the CDC moratorium announcement, the decline in filings that followed moratorium implementation, and the rise in rent filings since the second week of September. Landlords waited for a week, likely observing how or whether the Jackson County Courts would enforce the national order. Now, landlords are evading the CDC moratorium; rent eviction filings are spiking again.
Who is filing the most evictions?
These charts show the landlords that have filed the largest numbers of evictions since June, and during the CDC moratorium period in September. Most of the property owners on these lists are out-of-state corporations.
Top evictors by number of filings, June 1 to Sept. 25
These are the top Jackson County evictors since the local eviction moratorium lifted on May 31.
Canyon View Properties, the top COVID evictor, owns properties in Kansas City, Springfield, and in Arkansas.
Millennia Housing Management, another top evictor, is a corporation based in Ohio. They own several properties around Kansas City that have come under scrutiny for poor conditions since 2019.
Top evictors by number of filings, Sept. 1 to Sept. 25
These are the top Jackson County evictors since the CDC moratorium was announced on Sept. 1.
Many landlords filing the most evictions during September are also the top COVID evictors since June. In fact, some, like Canyon View and Millennia have filed the majority of their evictions after the CDC announcement.
Even though the CDC banned rent evictions, citing public health concerns, out-of-state landlords are still filing evictions against Kansas City tenants.