Join our family of curious Kansas Citians

Discover unheard stories about Kansas City, every Thursday.

Thank you for subscribing!

Check your inbox, you should see something from us.

Sign Me Up
Hit enter to search or ESC to close

Affordable Housing: The Apartment Fight

The Apartment fight cover photo.
Share this story
Sponsor Message Become a Flatland sponsor
1 minute read

When the Kansas City Housing Authority won a coveted $30 million federal grant in 2015 to tear down Chouteau Courts, a low-income housing project east of downtown, and replace it with mixed-income housing, housing advocates were thrilled. But when the Northland was proposed as a location for one of the new properties, area residents took issue with the idea.

At a meeting last July among metro leaders, Northland residents, and Brinshore Development, LLC, the company chosen to build the complexes, the proposed mixed-income development drew criticism. Following that meeting, more than 4,000 people signed a public petition to prevent the development in their neighborhood.

The petition lists reasons to build elsewhere and includes comments ranging from concerned to racially-charged.

This video dives into the controversy, as the resident push-back has put the city in a tight spot as it faces an upcoming tax credit application this year and overall deadline to complete the project in coming years.

This video is part of a larger project from Kansas City PBS and Flatland looking at gentrification, affordable housing, and evictions in the Kansas City metro. Follow the entire project at flatlandkc.org/publicworks, and with the hashtag #KCPublicWorks.

Follow Our Project

Public Works A Level Foundation

Kansas City PBS and its digital magazine, Flatland, are gathering in-depth reporting and engagement around affordable housing in the metro. Watch for resources, ways to get involved, and more reporting at our project main page, Public Works? A Level Foundation.

Like what you are reading?

Discover more unheard stories about Kansas City, every Thursday.

Thank you for subscribing!

Check your inbox, you should see something from us.

Enter Email
Your support helps Flatland’s storytellers cover the issues that matter to this community. Give what you can to help in-depth, nonprofit journalism thrive in Kansas City. Support Local Journalism
Sponsor Message Become a Flatland sponsor

Ready to read next

Former Union Hill Motel Converted to Apartments

Read Story

Leave a Reply