KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A city in Johnson County, Kansas, unanimously voted this week to ban a living arrangement aimed at helping tenants decrease the amount of rent they pay.
The Shawnee City Council voted 8-0 Monday to ban co-living, becoming among the first Kansas City-area municipalities to prevent the practice, which has gained popularity in recent years as rent and home prices have soared.
The new ordinance defines a co-living group as a group of at least four unrelated adults living together in a dwelling unit. The ordinance stated that if one adult is unrelated to another adult, then the entire group will be classified as unrelated.
The practice, which includes things like sharing a kitchen, living room and community areas, started to gain popularity as rental and housing prices continued to increase across the United States.
"Co-living has become increasingly popular because of its cost effectiveness and greater flexibility in cities where rents are high for young professionals," The Washington Post wrote in 2019.
The City Council's vote came despite a presentation from a Johnson County organization where a housing study showed that the average home price in the county rose 37% from 2017-2021, climbing from $324,393 to $443,700. The study also showed that wages did not rise at that same rate.
"Shawnee is one of the three largest communities in Johnson County, so what happens in Shawnee is really consequential for what happens to the rest of the county," said Kristy Baughman, director of education and planning for United Community Services of Johnson County.
Baughman said that the organization received a grant in 2017 from the Kansas Healthcare Foundation, which was part of a healthy communities initiative. The task was to identify a health equity issue, she said.
"Over and over again, what rose to the surface was the cost of housing was the thing that was impacting people's ability to be healthy," Baughman said.
