How can the City further encourage smaller-scale, incremental redevelopment in our neighborhoods?

Kansas City can use the housing trust fund, the land bank, and the homesteading authority to encourage small scale, incremental development of vacant homes and properties. The housing trust fund could provide grants and zero-interest loans to local and owner-occupied redevelopment projects on Land Bank and Homesteading Authority properties.

In the 1940 city limits, we have half the population we used to have. Do you believe repopulating the urban core is a critical priority?

People have left Kansas City because we have not invested in our people or our communities. Direct investment into communities to create beautiful and thriving neighborhoods for the people who already live here will also encourage people to return to Kansas City and new neighbors to move in. However, our first priority must be to the people who already live here, and we should not focus on increasing our population at the cost of displacing our current residents.

Many developers planning to offer affordable housing are experiencing financial gaps in their capital stack, hindering their ability to proceed with construction. Kansas City has built the Affordable Housing Trust Fund to help close this gap. Does the fund adequately address developers’ concerns? If not, how would you address this issue?

The gap exists due to profit motives. Developers must make a profit in order for a development to be worth it to them, and as a result there is often a financial gap when trying to build housing at truly affordable rates. Instead of trying to cover the gap with City tax dollars to protect developer profits, we should remove profit from the equation entirely, because housing is a human right. The City should use housing trust fund dollars to build municipal social housing at rates that are truly and permanently affordable, and democratically controlled and owned by the people who live in it.

How do you believe the affordable housing set-aside standards have impacted new housing development? How would you increase affordable housing in Kansas City?

I’m not sure how they have impacted new housing development because the policy is still new; however, I know they have set the rent at rates that are unaffordable for the people of Kansas City. I would increase affordable housing by investing in municipal social housing such as co-operatives, community land trusts, and municipally owned housing. Additionally, I would like to provide zero-interest loans through the Housing Trust Fund and implement a “first right of purchase” policy for tenants. Finally, I would establish a vacancy tax to incentivize development on blighted lots and use the revenue to provide a continuous revenue stream for the housing trust fund.

Transit-oriented community (TOC) projects create compact, walkable, pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use communities centered around high-quality transit systems. This development approach alleviates concerns your constituents may have about accessing services and the cost of living. How would you promote and support providing transit-oriented community developments to Kansas City residents?

I am extremely supportive of increased investment in high-quality transit systems that are accessible and affordable for everyone. I envision a transit system that is so good that people are excited to use it. In order to get there, we must require that truly affordable housing be built along major transit lines because the people who need truly affordable housing would benefit most from high-quality transit. We have seen many of our neighbors get priced out of their homes along the new streetcar lines, especially those who can least afford it. We must ensure that whatever transit system we build is built with our most impacted neighbors in mind.

Crime is affecting Kansas City’s reputation on a national scale. While violent crime makes the headlines, an increase in property crime is impacting our residents and businesses. What are some specific and measurable ways with which you would address crime? (We are looking for your concrete ideas, not general positions on funding or philosophy.)

Crime is a key indicator of a community that does not have its needs met. Instead of trying to enforce and punish our way to reduce crime which has not worked thus far, we need to address the underlying causes of crime. We can do that by investing in truly affordable housing, increased access to health care and mental health care, high quality and good paying jobs, and a robust public transit system so people can easily get to and from those jobs. Because we don’t have local control over our police, there is little we can do in terms of officer hiring, retention, or placements; however, Kansas City has the ability to address each of the issues I mentioned above, and data shows that investment into the above issues will have a positive impact on crime.

If elected, what issue will define your term?

Kansas City is on pace to have its most violent year in history. As I stated before, we cannot enforce, punish, and jail our way to safer streets. While there are some who have said I am too focused on housing, thinking about our City as a home is what grounds me in my view of policy and in my approach to problems. A home is so much more than a roof, but without a stable and safe place to live you cannot adequately move to address much else. Lack of access to housing and transportation often disconnect people from jobs with thriving wages, grocery stores, great schools, robust access to affordable healthcare & mental healthcare, and opportunities to experience community- without these you can end up in crisis. Not every problem in a home requires a hammer, and not every crisis in our City requires a gun. Intentional investment into community resources like jobs, healthcare, education, and public spaces prevent crises, but when crisis does occur we should have more tools than police. I want our City to address our problems in a holistic fashion so we can craft holistic solutions; solutions should be based in community investment and investment starts with our homes.