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Lucas sends letter, asks Jackson County judge to extend eviction moratorium into first half of 2021

In a letter sent to Jackson County’s presiding judge, Kansas City, Mo. Mayor Quinton Lucas is calling for an extension and expansion of a moratorium on evictions. Lucas asks evictions be put on hold for at least the first six months of 2021, citing a matter of public health.

Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas called on the Jackson County Circuit Court to extend and expand a moratorium on evictions in a letter Tuesday sent to the county’s presiding judge.

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Lucas asked Presiding Judge of the 16th Judicial Circuit J. Dale Youngs to halt “all filings, hearings, writs, enforcement, and garnishments, with narrow exceptions” through the end of June 2021 “as a matter of public health.”

Lucas also plans to send similar requests on behalf of all Kansas City residents in Cass, Clay and Platte counties, his office said in a statement announcing the request to Jackson County.

Lucas argued that Jackson County has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, but that evictions only add to the stress, exacerbate the ongoing health and economic crises, create a barrier to employment, and disproportionately affect minority communities.

“Eviction is already a fundamentally traumatic event, both a cause and a condition of poverty,” Lucas said in the letter. “The pandemic only adds more anguish. Although I speak for all Kansas Citians facing poverty, evictions pose even greater risks to Black Kansas Citians, who are one-third of COVID deaths in the state, but only 11.5 percent of the population. These are among the most important public health and economic interventions our community will ever make. I ask for your consideration.”

Lucas noted that “almost 50 percent of all Missouri renters have been unable to pay their rent at one time” during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is slightly higher than the national average.

Evictions were halted at the beginning of the pandemic along with most court hearings.

After court proceedings resumed, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a federal moratorium on evictions in September, but that order expires at the end of the year.

Many eviction proceedings were allowed to be filed in Jackson County, but have yet to be carried out due to the CDC order. But there are instances where the filing of the eviction lawsuit prompts residents to leave housing for fear of the impending court process.