Neighborhoods Fight Blighted Investment Properties with Nonprofit Legal Help
Industry Update
July 26, 2023
Source: northeastnews.net
Neighborhood Legal Support (NLS) and Legal Aid of Western Missouri are helping Northeast and East Side neighborhoods fight back against out-of-state investors leaving multi-family housing properties abandoned and blighted.
On Friday, July 21, the organizations, joined by leadership from Indian Mound, Lykins and Town Fork Creek, gathered at 3000 E. 49th Street to discuss the litigation and call out Whitestone Real Estate Fund, the investment group that owns dozens of properties on Kansas City’s Northeast and East Side.
“The apartment complex behind us had over 60 units when it was acquired by Whitestone and their investment fund in 2022,” Alissia Canady, Deputy Executive Director with NLS, said. “Over 60 units are unoccupied today. Look at it, it’s desolate, it’s uninhabitable. It’s boarded up and full of trash all throughout the property.”
NLS filed litigation against this property at the end of May, giving Whitestone several months to clean it up, Canady said. NLS, a nonprofit law firm, operates and focuses on community development, acting on behalf of neighborhood associations and nonprofits to address blight, violent crime and economic despair in communities.
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