It only takes six steps to traverse the room Nicole Ball has called home for eight months of the pandemic. It has two hot plates and a microwave that is barely big enough for a frozen meal. Your 300 square meter room in a Lenexa extended stay hotel is clean. It keeps it too. But it costs more than $ 1,300 a month. “At least I have money to put a roof over my head, but at what price?” She said. “At that price I don’t live a life.” Ball is one of the hundreds of people in Kansas City who lead hotel life month to month. Her $ 2,000 disability payment barely covers her bills. She never knows when her room rate will go up. It’s the only place she found to accept her dog and the 2019 eviction due to a $ 100 late fee. “Saying ‘no’ just tells me that I’m stuck here,” she said. “I’m locked up, I have nowhere else to go.” With the state eviction moratorium ending next month, housing advocates believe others could join Ball without help from federal, state, and city leaders. Caldwell was also in the weekly rental cycle of a hotel during the pandemic. She has found a new place to stay. But she has heard so many stories from people using hotels as a last resort before the streets during the pandemic. “It’s going to be a vicious circle,” she said. “People who couldn’t pay rent are now paying a lot more than they paid rent and these rooms and they have a lot less.” These hotels often have very strict rules and little oversight of evictions remained financially strong even during COVID-19. With so few affordable housing options in the Kansas City area, long-term stays have become a stopgap for nearly 70,000 extremely low-income households. Compare that to 26,000 affordable and available rental homes across the subway, according to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition. Those are the 2019 numbers. The numbers are likely to be even clearer as the pandemic nears its end. Organizations like KC Tenants want a $ 30 million trust fund to get people out of hotels. The organization recently released a detailed plan to use city funds to pay for permanently affordable housing. Ball would take anything cheaper. She recently shared her story with the executives at KC Tenants. She wants to use her story to point out a bigger problem. “Nobody should stay in a hotel,” she said. Right now, her 300 square meter room is all she has. “There should be mercy somewhere.” She said. “We need affordable housing.” KMBC 9 Investigates is planning more stories about the long-term hotel and motel industry. To share a story, email research@kmbc.com.

It only takes six steps to traverse the room Nicole Ball has called home for eight months of the pandemic.

It has two hotplates and a microwave that is barely big enough for a frozen meal.

Your 300 square meter room in a Lenexa extended stay hotel is clean. It keeps it too. But it costs more than $ 1,300 a month.

“At least I have money to put a roof over my head, but at what price?” She said. “At that price I don’t live a life.”

Ball is one of the hundreds of people in Kansas City who lead hotel life month to month. Her $ 2,000 disability payment barely covers her bills. She never knows when her room rate will go up. It’s the only place she found to accept her dog and the 2019 eviction due to a $ 100 late fee.

“Saying ‘no’ just tells me that I’m stuck here,” she said. “I’m locked up, I have nowhere else to go.”

With the state eviction moratorium ending next month, housing advocates believe others could join Ball without help from federal, state, and city leaders.

“You’re getting into a cycle,” said Tiana Caldwell, a director of KC Tenants.

Caldwell was also in the weekly rental cycle of a hotel during the pandemic. She has found a new place to stay. But she has heard so many stories from people using hotels as a last resort before the streets during the pandemic.

“It’s going to be a vicious circle,” she said. “People who couldn’t pay rent are now paying a lot more than they paid rent and these rooms and they have a lot less.”

These hotels often have very strict rules and little supervision over evictions.

The long-standing hotel industry has also remained financially strong during COVID-19. With so few affordable housing options in the Kansas City area, long-term residences have become virtually a stopgap for nearly 70,000 extremely low-income households.

Compare the 26,000 affordable and available rental homes across the subway, according to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition. Those are the 2019 numbers. The numbers are likely to be even clearer as the pandemic nears its end.

Organizations like KC Tenants want $ 30 million Housing Trust Fund to get people out of hotels. The organization recently launched a Detailed plan Use city money to pay for permanently affordable housing.

Ball would take anything cheaper. She recently shared her story with the executives at KC Tenants. She wants to use her story to point out a bigger problem.

“Nobody should stay in a hotel,” she said.

Right now, her 300 square meter room is all she has.

“There should be mercy somewhere,” she said. “We need affordable housing.”

KMBC 9 Investigates plans more stories about the long term hotel and motel industry.

If you have a story to share, send an email recherchiert@kmbc.com.