On a cold Saturday in January, KC Tenants, the citywide tenant union in Kansas City, Missouri, received a call from the public school district. Teachers at Gladstone Elementary School in Kansas City’s Northeast neighborhood reported that a set of buildings near the school, home to several students, had lost heat.
Sofia, a young mom of four, met KC Tenants at the property on North Lawn Avenue when we went to assess the situation. She spoke English, but almost all the other adults at the property did not. The tenants were Burmese refugees and Mexican immigrants, most of whom had been there for years, paying $350/month for modest, dilapidated two-bedroom apartments. Sofia walked door-to-door with a KC Tenants organizer, interpreting for her neighbors and gathering information. By evening, KC Tenants issued a public demand for accountability from the landlord. The Kansas City Star, the public radio station, and the local TV news covered the event. The City’s Health Department provided a warming bus. On Sunday, the union collected supplies and food for the tenants. On Monday, the landlord showed his face, disgraced, and fixed the heat.
Read the rest at the Law and Political Economy Project
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