'Tenant Problem Solver' online tool helps fight eviction, dangerous conditions and more

When problems boil up between renters and landlords, hotline services can be overwhelmed and legal aid offices busy.

Now renters under stress can go online to the Tenant Problem Solver for help.

The tool, created by Kansas City’s Heartland Center for Jobs and Freedom, allows renters to match their problem with any of eight tool kits that spell out their rights and provide choices of immediate actions to take.

And, where the tenant’s situation is critical and urgent, the site will say: Call our hotline right away.

The purpose of the Tenant Problem Solver tool is to help more renters get assistance quickly, Heartland Center Executive Director Gina Chiala wrote in her letter announcing the service.

The center is handling an increase in hotline calls now averaging 25 a day — a rate of some 6,500 calls a year, she said.

“The influx of calls caused us to brainstorm about what we can do to get legal information in the hands of tenants quickly and easily,” she said, so tenants can protect their rights and take action “today.”

The interactive site leads visitors to tool kits that include what to do when unable to pay rent, facing past eviction judgments, under order to vacate, suffering dangerous or uninhabitable living conditions and more.

The site also directs renters in urgent legal situations to call the hotline — 816-278-1344.

Resources for tenants:

The Tenant Problem Solver: Click here

The Heartland Center for Jobs and Freedom: 816.278.1344, jobsandfreedom.org

The United Way: Call 211, uwgkc.myresourcedirectory.com

KC Tenants: 816.533.5435, kctenants.org