The right wing / religious right cannot stand adult people making the living arrangements that work for them. They are insistent on everyone having the nuclear family that tradition describes. A dad who can do what he wants outside the house and is served by a mommy who takes care of his property while providing him with frequent pleasure, producing his kids which she raises. Everyone must do this by decree of tradition and god! The right wing / religious right doesn’t want other adults to make their own choices in life, to do what is good for themselves without harming others. This law ends the Golden girls style of living. The right wing / religious right has tried for ever to stop co-habitation without marriage. I wonder what other adult arrangements will become illegal next?
The Kansas City Star reports:
On Monday, a Johnson County city unanimously voted to ban a living arrangement aimed at helping tenants decrease the amount of rent they pay. The Shawnee City Council voted 8-0 to ban co-living, which has gained popularity in recent years as rent and home prices have soared.
The new ordinance defines a co-living group as a group of at least four unrelated adults living together in a dwelling unit. The ordinance stated that if one adult is unrelated to another adult, then the entire group will be classified as unrelated.
The practice, which includes things like sharing a kitchen, living room and community areas, started to gain popularity as rental and housing prices continued to increase across the United States.
The Insider reports:
“City Staff received input and concerns from residents and City Council members regarding a relatively new trend where single family homes are being purchased and converted into rental units with multiple individual tenants,” a memorandum of the ordinance said.
“In this arrangement, individual tenants have leases of varying lengths, have separate secured access to their rooms, and often do not know or have relationships with the others who are also occupying the same single family dwelling,” the memo continued, saying the rental arrangements are “not typical of common rental uses in single family districts that are occupied by family units.”
NPR reports:
Since it was approved unanimously a week ago, Shawnee’s decision has made news well beyond the Kansas City metro, with one national publication saying the city had “effectively [made] roommates illegal.”
The new ordinance has also been called out by KC Tenants, a local tenants rights group whose director Tara Raghuveer evoked Johnson County’s history of redlining and tweeted that groups of adults living together in an apartment or house is one of the few affordable options for lower-income people in the area.
But Shawnee council members pushed back forcefully this week, saying that, in fact, they’ve struck a blow to keep home prices from ballooning even faster than they have already. They said their motives for passing the co-living restrictions have been misrepresented.
If you want to stop ballooning home prices, limit short-term rentals. Limit the number of homes speculative buyers and giant rental companies can buy. Don’t make roommates illegal for people who are struggling so much they can’t make their own rent payment. Sheesh.
Host of Twinkies Lizard • an hour ago
Hint: they are lying about the reason. They are not helping people. They are helping corporations. With the added bonus of brutalizing the poor, particularly women. Thus forcing women to be depended on men to whom they are related. Handmaid’s Tale continues.
SkokieDaddy – wiener dog dad • an hour ago
The ordinance stated that if one adult is unrelated to another adult, then the entire group will be classified as unrelated.
So if mom & dad and their college age son have their son’s girlfriend live with them, this will be banned?
Seems kind of crazy.
Gigi SkokieDaddy – wiener dog dad • an hour ago
If they’re all white an affluent, I’m sure their neighbors will be willing to give them a pass.
(((heleninedinburgh))) • 2 hours ago
For some people – for me, when I was a student – it’s a choice between living with flatmates and being homeless.
Inspiring to see municipal leaders taking such a strong pro-homelessness stance.
More “small government” conservatives no doubt. I don’t see how this is remotely constitutional but with the Roberts Alito court, I’m sure they would side with the wealthy.
HopeLeft margaretpoa • an hour ago
Continuing the trend of property having more rights than people.
If you can’t afford to rent your own place then you can’t live in their town. The are forcing out low income people to move out so their town will only have upper class people.
Only the right people can live in that town. *wink, wink, nod, nod*
So, in this town, someone who is elderly, single, needs care, and has no biological relatives can’t move in with people they’ve known for years. For instance, when I get to the stage I need assistance, I couldn’t move in with my best friend, his wife, and daughter, even though they are my sole heirs? What a stupid law.
Shawnee’s not so much a town, as it is a historically segregated, wealthy suburb.
Makoto TexasBoy • an hour ago • edited
Yeah, that clause about “any one of the people being unrelated means they’re all unrelated” makes it incredibly problematic for a lot of cases. I’ve been in situations where I nearly moved in with some friends for a month or so after some major surgery (it was incredibly generous of them to offer), but that would put them in danger with this ban. Assisted living, same problem.
Hell, I’ve got an aunt and uncle (eta: that’s what I’ve called them my entire life, but they are unrelated) that immigrated to the US, and when they became citizens, they changed their last name to my family name because of our long, generational friendship. But if I took them in if, say, their home got destroyed, boom, banned under this setup.
TexasBoy Meet John Doe • an hour ago
If God wanted poor people to live in houses, he wouldn’t have made caves. That is their mindset.
problem is – – – this is typical of nearly all of Johnson County, one of the wealthiest in the US. The renters would have to move to Wyandotte, Leavenworth, or Douglas County. Like the president of Santa Clara Community College in California living nearly 50 miles from campus to find housing affordable for her two professional earners household.
The fact that it is “one of the wealthiest (areas) in the US” is the issue. People in affluent neighborhoods don’t want what’s essentially a rooming house next door. They want to keep “those people” as far away from them as possible.
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