Kansas City tenants spend more than half their income on housing, rent survey says

Many Kansas City tenants are spending as much as 56% of their monthly income on housing costs, according to early findings from a survey conducted by the citywide tenant union KC Tenants.

Of the more than 700 survey participants, tenants reported earning an average of $2,500 in monthly income, but spending an average of $1,400 on monthly housing expenses—more than half of the monthly earnings.

These preliminary findings come as the city council debates approving part of Mayor Quinton Lucas’s newly proposed housing and development plan. The mayor’s proposal would loosen the affordability requirements for developers who want to get tax incentives for building new housing in Kansas City and would change the process for how new developments are approved.

“The analysis from this affordability survey…is really important, because it seems to us like people in City Hall may not be in touch with the depth of the pain that’s felt by tenants across Kansas City,” KC Tenants director Tara Raghuveer told The Star.

Under the mayor’s proposal, rent for an “affordable” one bedroom apartment in new developments would be up to $1,172 for households making up to $46,896 a year.

‘Cost-burdened’ in KC

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development considers paying more than 30% of your income towards housing as a cost-burden. People who pay more than 50% of their income towards housing—like the average Kansas City tenant that participated in the survey—are considered “severely cost-burdened.”

In its 2019 Tenants Bill of Rights, the city stated that 44% of Kansas City tenants are cost-burdened. This new survey being conducted by KC Tenants aims to gather more up-to-date data.

So far, the survey found that people were more cost-burdened depending on the size of their apartments, showing that families have a higher cost burden than single adults.

Based on the survey participants, a Kansas City tenant in a studio apartment contributes an average of 48% of their income toward an average of $1,050 to rent expenses each month, while the average family renting four bedrooms or more is paying 64% of their income towards housing.

The survey also found that more than eight out of every 10 respondents are worried they will be priced out of their housing either because of rising rents, other housing costs or gentrification.

In Kansas City, the median cost of rent is $1,326, up 13% since July 2021. In certain ZIP codes, the median rent price is up by 42%. For many, these housing costs are rising much faster than incomes, Michael Frisch, urban planning professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, told The Star.

What does ‘affordable housing’ mean in Kansas City?

When developers propose new housing projects in Kansas City, they need to dedicate a certain number of housing units as “affordable” if they want to get tax incentives from the city.

The benchmarks for what kind of rent is considered “affordable” in a new Kansas City development are based on the federally-set median area income for the Kansas City Metro area. The median area income is determined by the incomes of homeowners and renters in both rich and poor areas in the metro, including areas like Johnson County.

For a family of four, the median area income is $97,700. For a family of two, it’s $78,160, and for a single adult it’s $68,390. These figures are based on the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2022 median family income for the Kansas City metro area.

KC Tenants leaders say this broad area skews the median area income to be higher than what many residents in city neighborhoods actually make, which then makes rents even in “affordable” units unaffordable to many Kansas City tenants.

Current city regulations require developers to set aside 10% of units to be “affordable” and another 10% to be “extremely affordable.”

For a one bedroom with the current regulations, that’s some with rents up to $1,368 for households making up to $54,712, and some with rents up to $581 for households making up to $23,250.

The mayor’s proposal heading to council on Thursday would more than double the cost of “affordable” rent for some units. It would require that 20% of units in new developments be affordable under a new standard. For a one bedroom, “affordable” rents could be up to $1,172 for households making up to $46,896.

The group’s survey found that nearly all of its respondents disagree with the city’s definition of “affordable” when developing new housing.

Respondents to the KC Tenants survey said that $671 for a one-bedroom would be a more realistic price point for a “truly affordable” one-bedroom apartment. If the average tenant surveyed makes $2,500 a month, a $671 rent would take up about 26% of their income.

“I take the definition of affordable personally. As someone who recently made it out of homelessness, I am clear I never want to be back there again,” Sabrina Davis, leader with KC Tenants, said during the group’s press conference on Tuesday.

“I’m stressed knowing my living situation is in the hands of speculators, gentrifiers, and Mayor Lucas – who thinks $1,200 rent is affordable,” Davis said.

How did KC Tenants conduct the survey?

KC Tenants’s affordability survey is a part of the organization’s campaign to redefine what affordability means in Kansas City. The questions were created by KC Tenant leaders who have struggled with affordable housing themselves and feel close to the issue, Raghuveer said.

The survey asked respondents to share things like housing costs, monthly income, number of bedrooms, number of household members and personal stories related to housing affordability.

The survey was published on July 30 and has gathered responses from more than 700 people so far. In addition to distributing the survey on social media, KC Tenants has distributed the survey at tenant union meetings and membership drives.

About 85% of those responses have been from tenants, and the remainder are from homeowners or people who indicated that they were neither a tenant or homeowners, meaning they could be unhoused or in between living situations, according to Raghuveer.

“There were some interesting themes coming out in what we had already started to analyze,” Raghuveer said. “It’s a preliminary report out, so we’re still going to continue promoting the survey. And we’re trying to get as many people in the community to take it as possible.”