Eviction filings in Sedgwick County rose in 2023.
Landlords, tenants and housing assistance nonprofits say inflation, rising rents and the end of pandemic assistance contributed to the increase in filings.
Khanh Kim Nguyen, a local landlord, and three of her tenants were in Sedgwick County eviction court on the morning of Aug. 8.
Each tenant was late on rent or hadn’t paid the full amount they owed, Nguyen said. With the cost of insurance and property taxes rising on the dozens of units she owns, Nguyen said she can’t hold back on filing for eviction.
“We don’t want someone (to be) homeless,” Nguyen said. “But we have to do (it) because we cannot wait.”
Nguyen said she’s had to undertake more and more evictions since 2021, a trend that matches county numbers. Evictions filed each year in Sedgwick County have risen steadily since a low in 2020, when an eviction moratorium was in place. The filings surpassed pre-pandemic numbers in 2022 and hit a five-year high in 2023 of 5,863.
The data is pulled from forcible detainers cases filed in Sedgwick County District Court.
Landlords, tenants, eviction lawyers and nonprofits working in rental assistance attribute the increase in filings to a variety of causes, from inflation to rising rents to the expiration of COVID rental assistance.
“There is a huge need out there, and it has definitely escalated o compared to what it has been,” said George Dinkel, the executive director of the Center of Hope, a nonprofit that provides rental and utility assistance.
He estimated his agency received about 30% more requests for assistance from 2020 to 2024.
Eviction filings by landlords do not necessarily result in the tenant’s ouster. A judge could rule against the eviction, or a tenant could pay rent, causing the landlord to stop seeking possession of the property.
Are Rising Rents to Blame?
Some working in the nonprofit sector say rent increases in Wichita played a role in the growing number of eviction filings.
The Urban League recently began offering an eviction prevention workshop, and residents around the city have started calling to ask for housing assistance.
“There was an individual that I was talking to that was kind of homeless, sleeping in their car,” said Tisha Neloms, the Urban League’s housing coordinator and program navigator. “And they said that their rent just kept going up, and it went up one last time to where they just couldn’t pay their rent because their rent was more than what they were bringing in.”
Dinkel has also observed rent increases that shock families living on fixed incomes.
“They only make like, $900 a month, and we’ve seen their rents increase from like $300 and $400 a month to $500 and $600 a month,” Dinkel said. “… It really is putting some significant constraints on their income.”
Steve Minson is a lawyer with Kansas Legal Services, where he often works with tenants. He said in recent years, he’s heard from tenants who face rent increases when they go to renew their leases.
“I got people that say, ‘I can’t pay. What am I going to do? Is this legal?’ And the answer often is, ‘Yeah, if the notice of increase was given properly, it’s legal and binding,’” Minson said. “And if you can’t pay it, you’re going to have to go before you get an eviction. And some people don’t have a place to go, and so they end up hanging on until the eviction is filed.”
From 2022 to 2023, rents in multifamily apartment complexes in Wichita increased 10%, according to a report by NAI Martens, a local commercial real estate firm. And rents increased the most in Class C apartments, the oldest and typically cheapest units.
NAI Martens Senior Vice President Jeff Englert, an author of the report, said that could have played a role in rising evictions.
For her part, Nguyen said she doesn’t typically increase rent for long-term tenants because she knows they can’t afford it. She does say she typically increases rent when bringing on a new tenant.
Nguyen said inflation has had an outsized impact on her business and eviction filings. Dinkel said he also hears from tenants squeezed by high costs like gas and car payments.
Other times, a tenant’s personal crisis can be a precursor to eviction, Nguyen said.
“Some tenant(s) tell me, ‘OK, my business right now, it closed down. I can find another job,’” Nguyen said. “We cannot wait one or two months to find another job. So, eviction…”
Available government rental assistance decreased drastically after 2022, when the city of Wichita’s federally funded emergency rental assistance program exhausted its funding. A different rental assistance program run by the city for people experiencing homelessness or nearing eviction is no longer accepting applications.
The 18th District Court offers an Eviction Resolution Program for tenants and landlords interested in mediation as opposed to eviction. Kansas Legal Services offers a free walk-in clinic for civil matters, such as eviction, on Wednesdays from 12:30 – 4 p.m.