She watched her Lee’s Summit apartment deteriorate — until the union showed up.

Lee’s Summit Residents Form First Tenants’ Union to Demand Safer, Cleaner Housing at Sage Crossing

Image source: The Kansas city star

The Sage Crossing Apartments in Lee’s Summit—once considered a refuge for single mothers and families seeking stability—have become the focal point of a growing tenant-rights movement in the Kansas City metro. Amid worsening living conditions and what residents describe as years of unresponsive management, tenants have organized the first formal building-wide tenants’ union in the city’s history.

Years of Neglect Lead to Organized Action

For more than a decade, longtime resident Mikayla Daniels has called Sage Crossing home. Her unit reflects years of deferred maintenance: mold growth, damaged flooring, rusting fixtures, and air vents releasing black residue. Despite numerous maintenance requests, tenants say management—under Capital Realty Group, a New York–based firm that acquired the complex in 2017—failed to implement meaningful improvements.

Residents recall repeated promises of upgrades, including new flooring, fresh paint, and modern appliances. Yet Daniels’ kitchen still bears the damage from a minor fire in 2018, with a section of burned flooring patched with duct tape and an empty gap where a dishwasher once stood.

Residents Unite for Change

With support from KC Tenants, a citywide tenant union advocating for safe and dignified housing, more than 70 residents formed an official tenants’ union at Sage Crossing in mid-2025. The decision followed Capital Realty Group’s public commitment to negotiate with formally organized tenant groups.

“This is about accountability,” Daniels said. “We’ve been patient and cooperative, but now we’re demanding the safe, clean homes we deserve.”

The Sage Crossing union joins newly formed groups at Park Square Apartments and Paraclete Manor Apartments, both also owned by Capital Realty Group.

A Pattern of Long-Term Property Decline

Residents report that conditions deteriorated significantly after the complex changed ownership. Common complaints include ignored maintenance requests, inadequate or temporary repairs, and what some tenants describe as hostile management practices. Issues such as mold, water leaks, faulty fixtures, and unsafe common areas have been documented throughout the property.

Daniels and others allege that management has retaliated against tenants who voice concerns—citing examples of questionable lease violations, unwarranted police involvement, and intimidation efforts.

A Once-Stable Community in Decline

Constructed in the early 1970s, Sage Crossing has long served as an affordable housing option for single parents and survivors of domestic violence. “For many residents, this was meant to be a place to rebuild,” said Anna Heetmann, an organizing fellow with KC Tenants. “Instead, people are facing unsafe living conditions and constant anxiety.”

Although recent activity suggests some renovation efforts—such as fresh paint and pest control—residents say the improvements appear superficial and fail to resolve deeper structural, plumbing, and health-related issues.

Reflecting a Larger Housing Crisis

The challenges at Sage Crossing echo broader concerns across Kansas City’s rental market. Aging multifamily properties increasingly purchased by out-of-state investment groups have raised questions about maintenance standards, tenant protections, and long-term community impacts. As demand for affordable housing intensifies, residents and advocates are pushing back against what they see as chronic neglect and limited accountability.

The formation of the Sage Crossing tenants’ union marks a pivotal moment for renter advocacy in Lee’s Summit and the Kansas City metro. Tenant organizers believe this movement could influence how property owners and management firms approach repairs, communication, and long-term investment in aging multifamily housing.