BREAKING: KC Tenants has blockaded the court entrance. 6 people have chained the doors. The people have closed court for today. Every eviction is an act of violence.
#endevictions
BREAKING: We just blockaded the Eastern Jackson County Courthouse. 103 tenants on the eviction docket today. We’re also shutting down the online courtroom.
Kansas City Homeless Union made history today, winning at least 111 deeply affordable homes for people currently experiencing homelessness, good jobs, 500 hotel rooms to facilitate a transition to permanent housing, and a guaranteed seat at the table for future negotiations.
BREAKING: We just blockaded the downtown Jackson County Courthouse. Another 219 evictions on the docket. We plan to intervene to stop all of them, in person and online.
#ZeroEvictionJanuary
⚡️BREAKING NEWS⚡️due to our phone disruption, virtual eviction court has been OFFICIALLY SHUT DOWN! There will be no more cases heard today and more importantly, NO EVICTIONS!!
BREAKING: We have blockaded both court entrances at once. We have people disrupting online. Aiming to shut down the 150+ evictions scheduled today. Power to the people.
#ZeroEvictionJanuary
Every eviction is an act of violence. Whether it’s an eviction from a home, a tent, a camp. Every eviction is an act of violence. Whether it’s a pandemic, it’s summer, or it’s winter. Every eviction is an act of violence.
We are horrified to learn the news that a Kansas City landlord has murdered his tenant for requesting that he fix the heat. Our hearts go out to the family of Darryl "Brent" Gillard Jr. and especially his partner Samantha Pohlman who witnessed the attack.
KC TENANTS AND JACKSON COUNTY VOTERS SHUT DOWN THE STADIUM SALES TAX. The largest transfer of public funds to private enterprises in our region’s history, $2 billion over 40 years. The people took on the billionaires. The people won. Nothing is inevitable if we organize.
BREAKING: We just shut down teleconference eviction court in Eastern Jackson County (Independence, MO) in under 15 mins. All 21 cases are delayed at least 1-2 weeks. Eviction disruptors joined from around the country. Power to the people! 💥
BREAKING: EVERY AFTERNOON EVICTION DOCKET IS NOW CLOSED. They thought we wouldn't be back in the afternoon? F*ck that!!! We shut it down, again. The court clerks and county legislators just evacuated "for their safety" 🔥
Y’all know it’s cheaper to prevent homelessness by protecting tenants’ right, and cheaper to end homelessness by providing homes, than it is to treat homelessness through reactive services, right?
Today is August 1. The rent is due and millions of us can’t pay. We shouldn’t have to. We shouldn’t be forced to the streets in a pandemic. All evictions are an act of violence.
We took matters into our hands and shut down all in-person and online KC evictions on Thursday.
ALL EVICTIONS ARE AN ACT OF VIOLENCE. With every eviction we allow right now, we are saying we believe landlords’ profits are more important than people’s lives. And that ain’t right.
Today our leaders shut down all four Jackson County, Missouri eviction dockets, in person AND on the phone. On an average week, anywhere between 150-200 cases are heard or tried on these dockets. Since June 1, the courts have heard/tried approx 1600+ eviction cases.
We love the teams, and we love the momentum. AND we shouldn't have to fork over $2 billion over 40 years to the teams' billionaire owners. The sales tax is a tax on the working class. Vote NO on April 2.
Tenants and community members have chained doors of eviction courts shut in Kansas City in order to prevent eviction hearings from beginning. The secret is that there is no secret: shut the system down, build to fight, fight to build. Follow
@KCTenants
BREAKING: KC Tenants Bill of Rights passes. Historic policy, unprecedented in Kansas City. This is good policy, made the right way, with the people impacted leading.
City Council passed an policy today to relax requirements for developers, allowing them to get incentives to build housing that is fundamentally unaffordable. Shameful. We took over the Council chambers during the vote to let them know we will remember the day they sold us out.
Just a pro tip for people here on twitter: A direct action is not the same as a protest. When we film/photograph our leaders, it's because we have explicit consent and a robust plan. Thank you and good day 😄
BREAKING: WE JUST WON
#ZeroEvictionJanuary
.
Presiding Judge Dale Youngs just signed an order that stops all eviction summons, hearings, and writs of execution through January 24 or until the order is amended/revised.
RIGHT NOW:
KC Tenants leader Ashley Johnson just had her landlord REMOVE HER STOVE while she was at work. This is completely illegal. Ashley has an eviction court date NEXT Thursday. Watch Ashley confront her landlord Vera Kimble at her door.
THREAD: KC Homeless Union began organizing in January. Since then, they have camped on the lawn of City Hall, demanding homes, jobs, water, and a seat at the table. Today
@QuintonLucasKC
and City Hall security are planning to evict them. Where are they supposed to go?
In February, Krisi signed a lease with Reliable Properties on a home in her kids' school district, after paying almost $6,000 in deposits plus first/last month’s rent. A few weeks earlier, she’d finally found a job that paid a decent wage. Things were looking up for her family.
VICTORY: Yesterday the Heart Village residents organized, took over the Jackson County legislative meeting, and forced (a majority of) their demands to be met, including $10k minimum per household and rent cancellation now through February 2022.
Thread on how they won:
RIGHT NOW: Over 30 Heart Village Mobile Home Park residents have showed up to the Jackson County legislative meeting to make their voices heard as the County plans to displace them to build a jail.
The President and Congress allowed the eviction moratorium to expire. This is a travesty, especially as Delta variant cases are spiking in states like ours. We knew this day would come, and we've been organizing to defend tenants against evictions by any means necessary.
‼️ SPOTTED: Local slumlord Matt McGee ripping down tenant union literature.
What are you scared of, Matt? Why wouldn’t you want your tenants to organize? Afraid you might be held accountable for the condition of your properties?
Today we issued our first formal statement on the proposal for a downtown Royals stadium.
We don’t need a flashy downtown stadium. We don’t need a playground for the wealthy and for tourists. And we definitely don’t need it if it costs us money. We need to house the people.
BREAKING: We shut down afternoon eviction court in Eastern Jackson County (Independence, MO) within ten mins. Evictions delayed till January. Combined with morning disruptions, we delayed 72 evictions today. All power‼️ To all the people‼️
“Not my problem she doesn’t have anywhere to go.”
“She can go screw someone else out of rent.”
“People are so privileged these days, just look at the Democratic Party.”
“My heart doesn’t bleed for these people.”
These are some of the LL rep's comments as he executed the eviction
BREAKING: Judge Kyndra Stockdale continued (delayed) every eviction on this morning’s docket due to our in person and online disruptions. 41 evictions delayed, including Kenneth’s.
#ZeroEvictionJanuary
🧵 VICTORY!!!! Tenants at The New Yorker, a Midtown apartment building owned by
@macpropertieskc
received notices that their leases wouldn’t be renewed and that they had to move within 30 days...
Do you care about profits? Or do you care about people?
There's no middle ground during a time when people simply cannot pay their rent. Any property owner seeking to maintain a normal profit margin right now is doing so at the expense of human lives. Period.
In the state of Missouri, your landlord is required to adequately heat your home. In Kansas City, retaliation against a tenant for reporting health and habitability violations or for organizing is unlawful. If you need support, call our hotline: 8165335435
At least 15,777 households are impacted by rolling blackouts today. Many of our leaders have already lost power in their homes. It's -2 degrees in Kansas City.
It's a real shame that
@evergypower
has failed to invest in efficient programs that could mitigate these issues.
A police officer told Krisi to “bust a move.” The Sheriff berated her, telling her she was trespassing as she packed up her children’s clothes. On Tuesday Krisi began her journey as a homeless single mom. She is now spending $600/week to live in an extended stay hotel.
JUST NOW: KC Tenants shuts down Sister Act at Starlight with
@QuintonLucasKC
meant to appear as Pope. The Mayor got spooked and didn’t show up on stage— but we took the opportunity to educate the crowd on his harmful proposals:
The revolution will be led by tenants like Tiana, Maya, Jenay, and Urban. And the power necessary to win will be built and wielded by tenant unions.
KC Tenants in this weekend's
@nytimes
by
@ConorDougherty
The housing system we have today is predicated on a skewed power dynamic that favors the landlord, creating conditions where tenants have to beg for their basic needs to be met. That ain't right. In big ways and small ways, it's violent and wrong.
Evictions are a death sentence for our most vulnerable neighbors. While eviction is already a fundamentally traumatic event, both a cause and a condition of poverty, the pandemic adds yet more anguish.
All evictions are an act of violence.
After several days of organizing, the tenants sent demands to Mac Properties. 4/7/23, we received notification that Mac will rescind the lease non renewals. All the tenants are able to stay on the property, at their current rent. EVERY TENANT CAN STAY, AT THEIR CURRENT RENT.
A PLAY IN THREE ACTS
[Jackson County Courthouse, KCMO. 8:45am. Sage is lit to honor ancestors.]
ACT 1: LANDLORD ATTORNEY APPROACHES COURTHOUSE
ACT 2: TENANTS BLOCK HIS ENTRANCE, HE LEAVES
ACT 3: LANDLORD ATTORNEY RETURNS TO TRY TO FORCE WAY IN, IS DEFEATED, RETREATS AGAIN
We’re not advocates. We’re not activists. We’re not a housing group.
We’re the citywide tenant union. We’re thousands of tenants, organized and clear on what we deserve. Put some respect on our name.
It’s February but we decided to do some hot girl shit and shut down eviction court in Independence, MO today. Delayed 95 evictions in under three mins this morning and under ten mins this afternoon.
#EndEvictions
ALERT: Jackson County Deputy Sheriffs just shot a man as they tried to evict him.
We are horrified at the violence in so many forms. We demand answers immediately.
If you have information or need support related to this situation, call our hotline ASAP: 8165335435
RIGHT NOW: Tenants from around the country are disrupting every eviction docket in Jackson County, Missouri. At this time, four courtrooms have had their proceedings delayed or ended.
KC Tenants will host an eviction defense training in the coming weeks, open to any organization led by impacted tenants. Please keep eyes peeled for details.
A faulty eviction moratorium wasn’t ever going to save us. We take care of us.
#EndEvictions
Our statement in response to the Kansas City Royals announcement of a selected site for a downtown stadium, and in advance of the April 2 sales tax vote to subsidize the stadium:
We love our city. Because of that love, we refuse to pay for our own displacement.
Thousands of families in Jackson County have been displaced since May 31. COVID cases are on the rise in Missouri. If you are reading this and wondering how we got here, look to Presiding Judge David Byrn of the 16th Circuit Judicial Court. Look to
@GovParsonMO
.
💣 INTRODUCING: SLUMLORD SATURDAYS 💣
A new tradition where we roast abusers, exploiters, extractors, profiteers who ruin our community + hurt our people. We will expose a slumlord: their investment strategy, housing conditions, tenant testimonies, any other scoop we can find.
@RaytownPD
is assisting evictions RIGHT NOW during a global pandemic. EVICTIONS ARE NOT JUSTICE. They are so determined to evict people out of the safety of their own homes that they will physically shove tenants who stand in solidarity with tenants like Amanda Williams!
We are going to make Kansas City the first city in the country with municipal social housing.
Today 300 tenants gathered in Kansas City to dream about the world we deserve.
We won’t stop till we win.
#HouseThePeople
Read more:
Pics: Chase Castor
Reliable Properties evicted Krisi as soon as they could. Krisi got summoned to court in June. She was told that if she couldn’t come up with $2555 in 10 days, a Sheriff would remove her family from the property. Like most of us, Krisi doesn’t have access to that kind of cash.
BREAKING: AT LEAST TWO ONLINE EVICTION DOCKETS ARE CLSOED. our comrades across the country have shut down the disgusting conference call evictions that our courts have allowed 🔥🔥🔥
This Tuesday, a Sheriff and a landlord rep kicked Krisi out of her home. They made a plan to call animal control while the LL rep changed the locks. When Krisi got home from work, she would be locked out, without her clothes, meds, food, important paperwork, and without her dog.
BREAKING: The Royals and Chiefs each dropped another $500k into their committee on Friday.
That brings the total amount that billionaire team owners have spent on this election to $3m.
@MannyAbarcaIV
Just a reminder: You work for the people, not for the teams.
Your constituents told you, decisively, what they thought of this deal. Instead of reflecting on that, this is your response? Irresponsible, at best.
SLUMLORD THREAD: On Saturday we heard 146 N Lawn in NEKC was without heat. The tenants are all refugees and immigrants, most of whom don't speak English. The landlord is Parker Webb, of FTW Investments. He was AWOL all weekend while his tenants endured the freezing cold.
Two of our leaders, both Black women, were arrested and are being held. They haven't been allowed a phone call, and the jails are giving us the runaround, not allowing us to post bail. We will be outside the jail until our people are free.
Judge Byrn signed the first eviction moratorium back in March. And now he claims he doesn't have jurisdiction to reinstate it? Look at this response his court sent to our demands yesterday.
Make it make sense.
There's no such thing as "trickle down" housing. You can't build (and incentivize) luxury and market rate and expect the market to magically create workforce and deeply affordable housing.
Then COVID hit. Krisi's employer shut down. Krisi took the first job she could find at a Dollar Store, but it came with a $4/hr pay cut. Krisi couldn't pay her bills. She tried to make a plan with Reliable Properties to pay rent in $50 or $100 chunks, but they weren’t having it.
Why say "end evictions during a pandemic" when we could say "end evictions" ?
Why say "no evictions without representation" when we can say "no evictions" ?
We shouldn't qualify demands to fit the world as it is. We should make demands that build the world as it should be.
VICTORY: Judge Weir, the judge who hears the most evictions every week in Jackson County, will not hear any more evictions in 2020! We forced her to end remote hearings, and now she's ended her in-person hearings as well. THANK YOU for all your support. The work continues...
RIGHT NOW: KC Tenants is testifying at KCMO’s third budget hearing. This is the people’s final chance to be heard about what this City’s priorities should be. The budget is a moral document and so far does not reflect the needs of our people. We’re tweeting live updates 💥
Another world is possible, one where every person has a safe, accessible, truly and permanently affordable home. We won’t stop organizing till we get there.
ZERO EVICTION JANUARY. We are taking at least one action everyday to
#EndEvictions
this month. You can sign up to take action with us:
The quick daily digital actions will be posted to this thread so you can follow along. Solidarity!
BREAKING: TENANTS IN KANSAS CITY JUST WON RIGHT TO COUNSEL, THE FIRST UNIVERSAL POLICY IN THE MIDWEST, WITHOUT INCOME RESTRICTIONS.
“Today, we changed history... Tenants across Kansas City can breathe easier tonight.”
@TianaCaldwell15
Yesterday we had nine freedom fighters take the floor where judges hear evictions and deliver our message loud and clear:
No one should be evicted during a pandemic. This is not justice. This is not due process. This is violence. All evictions must end. People are dying.
BELATED BREAKING: We shut down all the evictions on the docket in Clay County, MO. Judge Karen Krauser had 37 evictions scheduled. None of them were heard or decided. This was our first time in Clay County, but it won't be our last.
#ZeroEvictionJanuary
#EndEvictions
Before you get in our mentions about following the rules and using “respectable” tactics, do your homework. We’ve been emailing City Council for two weeks, packed committee yesterday, and delivered dozens of testimonies. They fundamentally don’t care, they didn’t listen.
BREAKING: Judge Weir, who has the highest-volume eviction docket in Jackson County, has decided to suspend her remote eviction proceedings due to our repeated disruptions. Good. Remote hearings are a violent, gross violation of tenants' rights to due process.
Update: As of midday we are in touch with the family and have offered support and solidarity. We can’t fully understand what they’re experiencing, but we have their backs. They have shared their appreciation for those who were able to donate 💛