A Kansas City Voted Unanimously to Ban Co-Living Rentals in Some Districts

• Shawnee, Kansas unanimously banned co-dwelling in some zoning districts, focusing on unrelated roommates who split the value of lease.
• Throughout the region, people have turned to roommates to counteract the growing expense of rentals and housing.
• Hire in the Shawnee area has risen by more than 11% given that 2019, in accordance to The Washington Post.

A city in Kansas has banned co-residing, proficiently producing it illegal to have a group of unrelated roommates break up the expense of rent in single-relatives household zoning districts.

Shawnee, positioned in Johnson County, unanimously voted early final 7 days to ban the living arrangement in an 8- vote by the Metropolis Council, The Kansas Metropolis Star described. 

As rental and housing costs have climbed throughout the state, people have turned to roommates to aid equilibrium the price tag. 

The Shawnee ordinance stated a group of individuals is co-living if it incorporates at the very least 4 adults who are unrelated. Only just one grownup requires to be unrelated for the entire group to be classified as unrelated, according to the Kansas Metropolis Star. 

“City Employees obtained enter and fears from inhabitants and City Council users with regards to a fairly new craze the place one family residences are staying bought and transformed into rental models with several personal tenants,” a memorandum of the ordinance reported.

“In this arrangement, particular person tenants have leases of different lengths, have individual secured access to their rooms, and normally do not know or have relationships with the some others who are also occupying the very same solitary relatives dwelling,” the memo continued, saying the rental arrangements are “not normal of common rental employs in single family members districts that are occupied by family models.”

The Town Council did not quickly return Insider’s request for remark on Sunday. 

The ban arrived in spite of knowledge introduced in a housing research that demonstrated the normal house price tag in Johnson County rose 37% concerning 2017 and 2021, from $324,393 to $443,700, in accordance to the Kansas Metropolis Star. The housing examine referred to the selling price rise as a health equity difficulty, noting that wages did not rise at the similar amount.

“In excess of and over once again, what rose to the area was the price of housing was the factor that was impacting people’s potential to be balanced,” reported Kristy Baughman, director of education and setting up for United Group Solutions of Johnson County, per the Kansas Metropolis Star.

According to a 2022 Washington Put up investigation, lease in Johnson County has risen by 11.4% just due to the fact 2019. The common rent compensated was $1,263. 

Portion of the Kansas Town metropolitan location, Shawnee had a population of more than 65,000 in 2019.