The 5400 block of East 27th Terrace in Kansas City, Missouri, is considered among the worst in its neighborhood located just east of Van Brunt. Few of the houses are occupied. Most bear the city’s stamp that identifies them as dangerous properties awaiting demolition. Lots where houses once stood were filled with rodents and tons of trash that attracted additional dumping.
On April 20, students from Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy (HBHA) and University Academy (UA) helped nonprofit Tikkun-KC transform those lots into an urban farm that will provide fresh vegetables for the neighborhood. In the fall, an orchard of fruit trees will be added along with berry bushes.
That blighted block is on its way to becoming the first to be transformed by Tikkun-KC, a nonprofit that is cost-effectively renovating dangerous houses slated for demolition, providing deserving low-income individuals with an opportunity to become homeowners and saving taxpayers thousands of dollars.
Tikkun-KC — which currently owns four houses, three vacant lots, and is in the process of acquiring four more houses on the street — hauled tons of trash from the empty lots. Back yards so overgrown they completely hid detached garages were cleared and the crumbling structures demolished. Three and a half tons of trash were hauled from just two houses alone.
The first resident has moved into a house that was renovated, saving taxpayers the $10,000 - $12,000 cost of demolition. A second house is currently under renovation with plans to transform more.
And, with the help of HBHA and UA students, an urban farm now has replaced vacant lots that had been filled with mountains of trash.
“I think it’s incredible to see the transformation between the houses that have been finished and the ones that haven’t been touched yet,” said HBHA student Natalie Bell. “It warms my heart to know that there are organizations out there that help these neighborhoods. It made me really happy that I could help for a day.”
HBHA Upper School Principal Todd Clauer said the students elected to help build the urban farm as part of a long-term social justice project partnership between HBHA and UA. This year’s “Healthy Homes” project is focused on ensuring that all people in Kansas City have access to safe and affordable living conditions, which made it a great match with Tikkun-KC’s goals.
UA senior and Student Council Vice President Sydney Lyles said she wanted to work on the Tikkun-KC urban farm because she feels “it’s a great step toward building the Kansas City community. It sets families up to buy homes instead of just rent. I was very excited to help out.”
Just as the joint social justice project provides students an opportunity to create bridges between the Jewish community and other communities in Kansas City, Tikkun-KC is working to build bridges with some of the city’s most blighted areas.
Instead of blocks teeming with houses slated to be torn down, overgrown yards, and empty lots that are magnets for illegal dumping and vermin, Tikkun-KC’s goal is to transform them into blocks filled with homeowners in houses that add value to their neighborhood. Instead of taxpayers shouldering the burden of fighting fires caused by squatters who move in during cold weather, and paying an average of $10,000 to $12,000 each to tear down a home, the houses are being brought back to life and filled with low income homeowners who take pride in their property and contribute taxes to the city’s coffers. Instead of scarce city resources paying to clear out the empty lots which have become trash dumps, Tikkun-KC is working to see them become urban farms.
When possible, Tikkun-KC provides employment opportunities to local contractors and neighborhood residents, bolstering the positive economic impact. Spurred by Tikkun-KC’s activities, private investors who had previously shunned the 5400 block of East 27th Terrace have begun improving some nearby properties. A neighboring house where illegal activities were taking place night and day was shuttered.
Tikkun-KC was started by Larry Myer, who has 33 years’ experience renovating and managing more than 1,500 Kansas City urban core houses and apartments. Myer believes that home ownership is critical to bringing back blighted neighborhoods because homeowners take pride in their property and are invested in their neighborhoods being safe and well-maintained.
Myer said he was inspired by a quote from Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson: “If you see what needs to be repaired and know how to repair it, then you have found a piece of the world that G-d has left for you to complete. But if you only see what is wrong and what is ugly in the world, then it is you that needs repair.”
The houses Tikkun-KC renovates are acquired from The Land Bank of Kansas City, Missouri. These are houses with three consecutive years of unpaid property tax that no one purchased at auction. Most are in such disrepair that they are deemed dangerous buildings and sit waiting to be demolished.
“I kept seeing the same problems and believed that a nonprofit could tackle and transform some of the most blighted areas that weren’t attractive to investors,” notes Myer. “We’re only in the early stages of renovating this block and we’ve already been contacted by other neighborhood associations asking us to help them. Now we need the community’s help through donations so that we can complete this block and move on to help the other neighborhoods.”
For information on how you can help transform Kansas City’s blighted neighborhoods, please visit www.Tikkun-KC.org or call Myer at 816-384-1200.
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