KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Lindale Apartments in Kansas City, Missouri, have been home to Chasity Williams and her two children for about 8 months.
But on Feb. 13, a fire at the back of her building damaged the electrical system, leaving them and other tenants without power.
That's when she says the property manager Premier Property asked tenants to evacuate until they could make repairs.
However, almost two months later, those repairs still haven't been made, meaning Williams hasn't been able to return home.
To make matters worse, when she returned a couple weeks ago to get some of their belongings, she found some of her shoes strewn about the hallway and a hole cut in her front door.
Once inside, she realized her apartment had been trashed and anything of value had been stolen.
"Like anything that they wanted they took out of there from my bedroom, my kids' room, the bathroom, the kitchen," Williams said. "This is not home for me anymore. It was taken from me and my children. This is not home."
Williams tells the KSHB 41 I-Team she repeatedly asked her property manager to let her out of her lease and claims the company stopped responding to her calls and texts.
Although, Premiere Property denied doing so when the I-Team reached out.
Within an hour of KSHB reaching out to the company, Williams received a text message stating her request to break her lease was approved.
The company also refunded some of the rent money she'd paid in advance.
Over the phone, the property manager the I-Team spoke with said due to supply chain issues, they've been unable to get the necessary parts to fix the electrical wiring damaged in the fire.
As for Williams, who is also expecting twins, although she was initially panicked, worried she had nowhere to go, she eventually found a family member to stay with temporarily.
Still, she came close to being homeless with her funds tied up in rent, at no fault of her own.
Kansas City Homeless Prevention Coordinator Josh Henges says situations like these are one of many contributing factors leading to homelessness in the city.
"It happens more frequently than you think," Henges said. "And she’s not prepared emotionally, mentally, physically in any way to hit the streets. It’s no place for anyone. And we’re talking about someone with two kids and two on the way? This is a really serious situation."
Anyone in a similar situation in Section 8 Housing can take their concerns to the Kansas City Housing Authority.
Because they pay landlords a substantial portion of the rent, they have the ability to withhold funds to ensure action is taken.
"And if it’s an emergency situation like no power, no gas, no water or other aspects, that landlord has 24 hours to correct the situation, otherwise we stop paying," explained Edwin Lowndes, executive director of Kansas City Housing Authority.
Meanwhile, Kansas City tenants like Williams who aren't in subsidized housing can make complaints to the city's Healthy Homes Inspection Program.
As Henges notes, while waiting for that complaint to be investigated, tenants can find themselves in a state of limbo, not quite homeless, not quite qualifying for those services.
Thus, there's no one to turn to for help because they're not officially homeless. But Henges hopes this will soon change.
"We need a single point of access for folks to get into the system and get help, and it’s one of the things I really want to bring within this position is coordinating social service agencies to find that single point, the one phone number or the one website people can go to to get help," Henges said. "It is the job of social service agencies to jump in and help, and they want to. The problem is finding them, or more importantly the folks who need help finding the social service agencies. They don’t know who to call."
Henges says the city is working on creating an app and establishing a physical walk-in location to serve as one-stop-shop access points to connect people with different social services.
Unfortunately, those won't be up and running in time to help Williams and her children, something she says is frustrating.
"Losing everything that you worked so hard to get for you and your children on top of finding out you’re pregnant with two more — it’s a lot, it’s really a lot," Williams said.
Although she says she's relieved to be able to move elsewhere, she let her rental insurance lapse, meaning she has no way to replace all the items she reported stolen.
At last check, she was still waiting for the city to conclude its investigation.
KSHB 41 reached out to the Healthy Homes Inspection Program to ask about their findings but has yet to hear back.
The Healthy Homes Inspection Program was formed to protect tenants by ensuring "minimum health and safety standards are met in rental units," and is part of the city's health department.
Once a complaint is made, an investigator will get involved.
While this can hold landlords responsible for making necessary repairs, it doesn't get tenants out of their leases.
If you rent in Kansas City and have concerns about your living conditions, you can make a complaint by calling the Healthy Homes Rental Inspection Program at 816-513-6347 or filing a walk-in complaint at 2400 Troost Ave, Suite 3600.
