Housing
Flatland covers stories about affordable housing, evictions and tenant rights in the Kansas City metro and surrounding area.
NourishKC Celebrates Serving Millionth Meal to the Homeless
By Kevin Collison Eight years after opening in new space at Eighth and The Paseo, NourishKC celebrated serving its millionth meal to the homeless people of downtown. Mayor Sly James recognized their charitable work at an event this week, but also used the occasion to call out the broader issue of homelessness and growing economic…
Innovative Second and Delaware Apartment Project Expects to Resume Work this Summer
(Updated Aug. 16) Jonathan Arnold, the developer of Second and Delaware, told the PIEA board construction is expected to resume in September with completion expected in mid-2020. Rising labor and material costs have pumped up the overall project cost to $71 million. Arnold said the development still is expected to be the world’s largest “passive house…
Oggi Lofts Expects to Open in Garment District This Summer
By Kevin Collison A former building at 600 Central St. previously known for housing a modern furniture store is in the middle of $5.7 million conversion into 25 apartments. The four-story Oggi Lofts project is expected to be completed by August and will include two studios, 20 one-bedroom and three, two-bedroom apartments. It’s named after…
Affordable Housing: Pricing Out Workers
If working two full-time jobs isn’t enough to make rent in the city, Kimberly Lawson wants to know what is enough. This video, part of a larger project from Kansas City PBS and Flatland looking at gentrification, affordable housing, and evictions in the Kansas City metro, delves into whether the downtown boom is driving out…
Where Are Those 20-Somethings Living?
Where do young Kansas Citians live? The traditional Midtown haunts? High-end urban apartments? The large rental complexes in suburbia? CuriousKC delved into the topic after receiving this inquiry: “Who ARE all these people who can afford to live in all this new development? Where are young, 20-somethings finding places to live?” We couldn’t reach the…
Anything Concrete? We Check In A Year After Our Infrastructure Project
Last spring, we dug into the state of metro roads, highways, sewers and public transportation in a project called Public Works? The Cost of Our Aging Infrastructure. Now, we’re issuing a report card, of sorts, to see if anything has changed in a year’s time. We track the progress on our weekly public affairs shows, Week in…
Data Tells Real Downtown Housing Story
GUEST COMMENTARY By Bill Dietrich Maintaining existing affordable housing stock and increasing that inventory are critical for the sustainability and continued growth of greater Downtown Kansas City. We’ve come a long way from the blight of the late 1990’s, but have much work still to do. In greater Downtown Kansas City today – 31st Street…
Streetcar Extension ‘Buzz’ Sparks Big Apartment Project at 39th and Main
By Kevin Collison Construction is expected to begin by late spring on a $34 million residential redevelopment project at 39th and Main, the largest private investment to date prompted by the anticipated extension of the streetcar from downtown to UMKC. The redevelopment of the historic Netherland Hotel building and the neighboring Monarch Storage building into…
What’s the Oldest House in the Kansas City Area?
Retired teacher Del Candler can trace her ancestors’ arrival in Jackson County to the 1840s, and wondered what structures remain from that period and Kansas City’s origins. She asked curiousKC, “What is the oldest house still standing in the Kansas City area?” With help from the Missouri Valley Room at the Kansas City Public Library…
Gentrification: The Westside
In the historic Westside neighborhood, “gentrification” has become a hotly contested word. From long-term residents to real estate developers, a neighborhood meeting shows there’s the pull between old and new, and a question of the right way to evolve a neighborhood. This video is part of a larger project from Kansas City PBS and Flatland…