James Mays grew up in the Wyandotte County home he is now fighting to keep.
He recently canceled full insurance coverage on his car to put more money toward overdue property taxes, reducing his balance to under $2,500.
“I never entertained the thought of leaving, or of losing my home,” Mays said.
But the debt, dating back at least three years, landed his property on the list for an Oct. 14 auction alongside other homes, vacant lots and commercial properties.
The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, holds delinquent property tax sales twice a year. For the past five years, residents have organized to help neighbors avoid losing their homes, raising enough to pay delinquent taxes for 85 families.
This year, fundraising has fallen short.
The KCK Neighbors Alliance, a grassroots group that grew from those efforts, says it still needs about $79,000 to eliminate the debt on 10 owner-occupied homes facing auction. At minimum, it needs $34,000 to get all the homes onto payment plans and prevent their sale.
The group is also pressing county leaders for changes to keep more residents housed.
“There’s got to be something that the Unified Government can do to make sure that things like this aren’t happening,” said Dustin Hare, who helps coordinate volunteer canvassers.
Unified Government officials did not respond to multiple requests from The Beacon to discuss the sale.
Ten Homes at Risk
Many properties on the auction list are vacant lots, abandoned homes or commercial properties. Residential owners must be at least three years behind on property taxes before their homes can be auctioned.
The Neighbors Alliance partnered with Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation, known as AIRR, to knock on doors and identify residents at risk. Volunteers narrowed the list to about 10 owner-occupied properties whose residents could not afford the debt.
Mays inherited his house from family. He said he did not know about the unpaid taxes until someone knocked on his door offering to buy it outright. He suspected a scam.
Canvassers found recurring problems: Many homeowners were elderly, had disabilities or were struggling with medical debt. Some inherited homes with unpaid taxes after a parent’s illness and death. Others reported mailing checks to out-of-state addresses, believing they were paying their taxes.
Mays has medical bills from a stroke and, more recently, hospitalization for a blood clot.
Last month’s sAdvocates Seek Policy Changes
The Neighbors Alliance proposes three changes: apply payments to homeowners’ oldest tax bills first; dedicate $100,000 to a Tax Sale Foreclosure Mitigation Fund; and hire an ombudsman to help homeowners navigate the system and access tax credit programs.
Advocates say changing how payments are applied could make a significant difference.
About a decade ago, the Unified Government began applying payments to the newest tax bill instead of the oldest, according to the advocates.
The change addressed commercial and rental property owners who repeatedly paid their oldest debt to avoid auction without clearing their full balance, said Eva Garcia-Meza, an AIRR canvasser.
“They were using the mechanism of paying off the oldest debt first as a kind of business practice to keep a cash flow on hand,” she said.
Owner-occupied homes should have been excluded from that policy, Garcia-Meza said.
Hare argues that the relatively small number of households needing help makes government intervention manageable. Helping families keep their homes could also avoid the greater expense of providing homeless services.
“This is a problem that we should be able to figure out how to handle because the numbers are small,” Hare said. “If these people lose their homes, where are they going to go?”Severe storms added more expenses. A century-old tree fell on the back of his house, gutters blew off, and hail damaged his roof and car.
“It was like somebody dropped a bomb over my house,” he said.
Fundraising Falls Short
Foundations and agencies have committed money elsewhere or exhausted resources responding to storm damage in northern Wyandotte County, Hare said.
Meanwhile, residents on fixed incomes or with stagnant wages face growing tax debts.
“When we were trying to pay people’s taxes off in 2021, the average tax debt was between $3,000 and $4,000,” Hare said. “Now that average tax debt is $9,000.”
A September fundraiser brought in more than $2,700, said Taisia Sarazov of the Neighbors Alliance.
Mays received help from his faith community toward a down payment. That allowed him to enter a payment plan, pay his remaining debt over the next few years and stay in his home.
“I don’t believe the Lord brought me this far in life to go without,” he said. “I’ve got a strong community around me.”
Advocates Seek Policy Changes
The Neighbors Alliance proposes three changes: apply payments to homeowners’ oldest tax bills first; dedicate $100,000 to a Tax Sale Foreclosure Mitigation Fund; and hire an ombudsman to help homeowners navigate the system and access tax credit programs.
Advocates say changing how payments are applied could make a significant difference as residents’ debts grow.
About a decade ago, the Unified Government began applying payments to the newest tax bill instead of the oldest, according to the advocates. That means a homeowner making payments can still have older unpaid bills that qualify the property for auction.
“When we were trying to pay people’s taxes off in 2021, the average tax debt was between $3,000 and $4,000,” Hare said. “Now that average tax debt is $9,000.”
The policy was intended to stop commercial and rental property owners from repeatedly paying only their oldest debt to stay off the auction list without clearing their full balance, said Eva Garcia-Meza, an AIRR canvasser.
“They were using the mechanism of paying off the oldest debt first as a kind of business practice to keep a cash flow on hand,” she said.
Owner-occupied homes should have been excluded from that change, Garcia-Meza said.
Hare and other advocates say the number of households needing help each year is relatively small and consistent, making it possible for local government to intervene and keep residents housed. Providing homeless services can cost more than a one-time payment to save a family’s home, Hare said.
“This is a problem that we should be able to figure out how to handle because the numbers are small,” Hare said. “If these people lose their homes, where are they going to go?”
By Mary Sanchez | The Beacon
