A dispute over an apartment eviction in Kansas City is drawing wider concern about how cities deploy programs intended to respond to people in crisis.
Housing advocates have said involving a mental health response team in an eviction risks turning a trusted public health service into another arm of enforcement, potentially weakening confidence in a program designed to offer care-centered support.
Here's what to know
Decarcerate KC contended that Kansas City used REACH — the city's Responding with Empathetic Alternatives and Community Health program — inappropriately during an eviction at North Lawn Apartments.
According to KMBC, the KC Tenants Union said REACH staff assisted the Kansas City Police Department as it carried out the eviction.
The program was created to respond to mental health crises and quality-of-life concerns. Critics said deploying it alongside police at North Lawn conflicted with that role and may have reduced confidence in the service.
City officials told KMBC that REACH workers supported tenants in the same way they normally do and said the city-run program is able to operate anywhere in Kansas City. Ten families at North Lawn Apartments were evicted. Of those, seven found temporary housing, while three were still displaced, with no accommodations or city relocation plan.
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More background
Teams like REACH are intended to handle tense situations through care, de-escalation, and health-centered support. If residents come to link those services with being forced from their homes, they may hesitate to seek help in a later crisis.
Losing housing can destabilize families, disrupt work and school, and intensify stress and mental health challenges.
What's being done?
The North Lawn Apartments Union met with Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and said he verbally committed to keeping every tenant housed until they are able to return to their homes or find new housing.
The union also said it is awaiting another update from the city. Decarcerate KC has asked city officials to explain REACH's role.
"And so for them to, for the city to specifically like call in REACH and deputize them to help out with this eviction, it just erodes public trust in this work," said Chris Lopez, a Decarcerate KC spokesperson.
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