Heartland Center for Jobs & Freedom
Residents at Stonegate Meadows Apartments, a 366-unit apartment complex for low-income tenants, have joined together to pursue a class action lawsuit that demands property-wide improvements. The legal team at the Heartland Center for Jobs and Freedom represents the tenants in their suit against Stonegate Meadows Apartments LLC, Elite Management Group LLC, the prior owner, and previous property managers of the complex.
According to Stonegate tenants and the Heartland Center’s legal team, abysmal living conditions plague Stonegate due to years of disinvestment and neglect. Roach and rodent infestations, mold, serious leaks, and ceiling collapses, among many other issues, are endemic to Stonegate. The tenants seek a court order requiring Stonegate to clean up the property. They also seek damages for violations of their tenant and consumer rights.
We have lived in uninhabitable homes for years. My family lived in three different units at Stonegate, and each apartment was unlivable. We complained and complained, but Stonegate never changed how they did business. Enough is enough.
Problems at Stonegate are well documented. Kansas City’s Health Department has conducted hundreds of inspections and identified nearly 1,000 violations since December 2019. It also revoked Stonegate’s rental license on two occasions. Local housing authorities have refused to pay rent on behalf of Section 8 recipients at the property because conditions in their homes are so bad. In January, a group of tenants sent a letter to ownership demanding changes.
Stonegate is publicly subsidized and is supposed to provide affordable housing to low-income Kansas Citians. Instead, it has exploited vulnerable tenants and destroyed hundreds of units of affordable housing in the process. The fact that ownership receives millions in rental income, tax credits, and federal funds only makes Stonegate’s conduct even more abhorrent.
The class action lawsuit is part of the Heartland Center’s Safe Homes for All Program.
We want landlords and property managers across this area to know: you cannot violate the law and subject tenants to unlivable housing conditions without consequence. This case is our first shot across the bow in our campaign to enforce habitability laws in the Kansas City area.
About the Heartland Center
Founded in 2017, the Heartland Center for Jobs and Freedom is a nonprofit law office that enforces tenants’ and workers’ rights. For updates and information, visit jobsandfreedom.org or follow @jobsandfreedom on Instagram.
Media contact
John Bonacorsi, johnbonacorsi@jobsandfreedom.org, 816-895-2444