KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One City Council member in Shawnee, Kansas, is asking her colleagues to reconsider an ordinance passed without opposition last month that prohibits homeowners from renting houses to four or more people who are unrelated to one another.
The ordinance, passed on April 25, limits co-living to three unrelated tenants in the Johnson County city. Council members have said the ordinance didn’t get any negative feedback when it was proposed, but it has since faced extensive scrutiny, with some calling it a ban on roommates that targets poor and working-class citizens.
Councilwoman Jill Chalfie, Ward 4, said during a City Council meeting late Monday that the ordinance — intended to solve a problem with companies turning single-family homes into apartments in single-family neighborhoods — had unintended consequences.
