On December 2, 2025, Relman Colfax filed a complaint in the United States District Court Western District of Missouri on behalf of Belton Development, LP, Commons of Belton DVLPR, LLC, Jabal Companies, LLC, and Calvary University (Plaintiffs) against the City of Belton, Missouri and Belton City Council (Defendants) for the unlawful prevention of the construction of the Commons of Belton, a multi-family affordable housing development.
In early 2024, the Plaintiffs, at the suggestion of City officials, began the pre-development process for building a 252-unit affordable housing apartment complex in the City of Belton, a predominantly white suburb of Kansas City. The proposed development would provide affordable units for the area’s lower income families and workforce, who are disproportionately Black and in significant need of affordable housing opportunities.
When starting discussions, the City recognized its substantial and growing need for affordable housing units to accommodate the expanding workforce, including for new and existing employees of the recently expanded Honeywell Kansas City National Security Campus as well as the large Chewy’s and QuikTrip distribution centers located within Belton. As described in the complaint, City officials and many Council members expressed their strong support, signing a letter of intent and a purchase option agreement for the City parcel where the Commons would be developed.
The growth of the City’s commercial hub has substantially outpaced its housing stock. The market study for the Commons concluded that approximately 5,700 households in the primary market area would be income-eligible for units in the development and that the waiting lists for other affordable properties, combined with a lack of new high-quality affordable housing in the area, demonstrate a “high and pent-up demand” for developments like the Commons. The demand for affordable housing is further demonstrated by the housing choice voucher waiting list of approximately 4,500 applicants and wait times of up to three years.
The Plaintiffs also contracted with Calvary University to purchase an adjoining parcel of land that, along with the City parcel, was necessary for the development of the project. As part of the sale of the University parcel, the Commons of Belton Plaintiffs also agreed to build the University a competitive soccer field that would allow the school to build its athletic program.
The Commons project was fully on track until the City’s support abruptly ended in response to the mobilization of a vocal minority of Belton residents who rallied against the development at the May 2025 Planning Commission and City Council meetings. The complaint alleges that the neighbor opposition was steeped in discriminatory rhetoric, making clear that these City residents did not want a disproportionate number of Black families and families with children moving into an affordable housing development in their neighborhood. It is alleged that the community members used racially charged language and employed insidious racial stereotypes and code words about the types of tenants who would live in affordable housing.
The demographics of Belton and the surrounding area reflect patterns of residential segregation. The Commons would be significantly more integrated than the predominantly white City of Belton and would have helped counter the patterns of segregation in the area.
The Planning Commission and City Council acceded to the discriminatory opposition and voted to deny the Commons’s application to rezone the parcel to a multi-family use designation. The denial of the rezoning application immediately and completely stopped the project.
It is alleged that the City’s actions have the purpose and effect of discriminating on the basis of the race and familial status of the likely residents of the Commons and have perpetuated racial segregation in the City of Belton by reducing opportunities for families of color to live in the overwhelmingly white community.
Today, the parcels sit undeveloped, affordable units remain scarce, housing needs increase daily, and Calvary University athletes practice off-campus, causing substantial and irreparable loss and harm to the Plaintiffs.
The case is brought under the Fair Housing Act of 1968 and Missouri common law. Plaintiffs seek to stop the Defendants from unlawfully interfering with the development and from taking any further action that would hinder, delay, or obstruct the development of the proposed workforce housing community.
The Relman Colfax litigation team consists of Reed Colfax, Yiyang Wu, and Megan Russo.