The program manager estimates around 50 landlord-tenant cases in Sedgwick County had been mediated as of late September, more than a year after the program begun. Meanwhile, the county typically sees around 5,000 eviction filings, or more, per year. WICHITA, Kan. (KMUW) — Landlord Harold Linde knocks on the door of a wood-paneled home just south of Kellogg. “Come on in,” his tenant calls from inside. As Linde steps inside the three-bedroom home, he ushers a barking dog away from the front door. Inside, Linde meets the tenant, a grandmother who lives in the house with her daughter and two grandchildren. She’s in a recliner, where she’s largely confined due to health challenges. “Are you fixing to evict us again?” she asks Linde. This summer, Linde had filed an eviction against the family because they owed him $950 in back rent. The grandmother asked not to be named out of concern that making her story public could affect her credit report. “No, no. We're trying to work this through a mediation,” Linde tells her. “We're – I'm trying to work this out.” Linde is one of the few landlords who participates in a new voluntary landlord-tenant mediation program offered in Sedgwick County’s 18th District Court. Through the program, Linde worked out an agreement with the family living south of Kellogg: he was paid some back rent so they could stay put. The grandmother living there says she, for one, is happy about that. “I don't know how I could possibly afford more rent anywhere else,” she said. The family pays $600 a month. The mediation program offers landlords and tenants an alternative to eviction: a neutral mediator – approved by the court system – brings both parties together in an attempt to work out an agreement. “Anytime things are going to trial, there is some inherent risk to both sides. You're leaving the determination up to the judge,” said Abigail Lessman, the eviction resolution program manager who oversees mediation. “In a mediation, … each party gets to play an active role in … creating the agreement that is eventually reached.” The mediation program began in early 2023 as part of an eviction resolution program that aims to reduce filings in Sedgwick County. Yet Lessman said just a small fraction of evictions have gone to mediation; she estimates around 50 cases as of late September. Meanwhile, the county typically sees around 5,000 eviction filings, or more, per year. “It's an unfamiliar territory for landlords and tenants to really consider mediation within the context of eviction,” Lessman said. “So, that has still been a challenge as far as increasing the interest and awareness of mediation as an option.” Still, Lessman said that the cases that go to mediation almost always end in agreement between the tenant and landlord. That’s how the program measures success. Why mediation, and what is it? In 2020, an eviction moratorium was temporarily put in place nationwide to deal with the pandemic. As COVID raged on, courts started looking for creative strategies like mediation to reduce evictions, said Samira Nazem, who leads the eviction diversion initiative at the National Center for State Courts. With a $10 million gift from Wells Fargo, the center helped fund eviction diversion pilot programs in courts across the country, including in Sedgwick County. Abigail Lessman is the program manager for the Eviction Resolution Program in the 18th District Court in Sedgwick County. The program includes landlord-tenant mediation (Courtesy of Abigail Lessman) “We wanted … to make eviction diversion a permanent part of the fabric of housing courts, rather than something that was really just time bound and connected to the pandemic,” Nazem said. Lessman runs the Eviction Resolution Program in Sedgwick County as the sole employee. On most days, she connects tenants with community organizations that offer resources like rental assistance or free legal advice. But she also runs the voluntary tenant-landlord mediation program. Any tenant or landlord can contact her to request mediation, before or after an eviction is filed. Lessman loops in the other party and their attorney, if they have one. She then connects the landlord and tenant with a court-approved volunteer mediator, who helps the two parties find common ground. In mediation, landlords and tenants can reach all sorts of agreements. Maybe the tenant stays in the unit and works out a payment plan with the landlord. Perhaps the tenant still has to move out. “While they may be vacating their unit, either way, they're vacating it on their own terms, with dignity and without an eviction judgment on the record that's going to cloud their ability to secure new housing,” Nazem said. If the two parties don’t reach an agreement, the landlord can continue to pursue eviction. Skepticism about mediation  Sometimes, Lessman meets tenants whose relationship with their landlords has deteriorated to the point that they don’t want to attempt mediation. More often, though, she said she hears hesitance from landlords. Lessman said one roadblock is that local property managers, who often operate on behalf of the owner, sometimes don’t have the authority or discretion to try mediation instead of court. Nazem said cities around the U.S. face similar challenges. “Larger-volume property management companies that have hundreds and hundreds of units and are often … going into court with dozens of cases on a single day may have less interest or ability to mediate cases,” Nazem said. Other property owners may not be interested in mediation by the time they file an eviction in court, said Shannon Kelly, who works as an attorney for Eviction One. She often represents landlords in eviction court. “The eviction filing with the court is generally their … last option because they’ve already done everything else they can to help the tenant,” Kelly said. “So at this point, asking for an additional mediation … doesn't help a lot.” Mediation is also available before an eviction is filed in court. But Kelly said she does not see this as a helpful option because communication between the landlord and tenant has typically broken down before an eviction filing. Kelly – who also serves as the president for the Mediation Center of Wichita – says she is a proponent of mediation in certain cases: those in which neither landlord nor tenant have a lawyer. That’s less common in eviction court, where landlords are more likely to have an attorney. This subset of cases is where Lessman has narrowed her focus. She proactively brings mediators to eviction court on Thursday mornings, when the judge sees cases where both the landlord and tenant represent themselves. Landlords and tenants can choose in the moment to step into a conference room to speak with the mediator. If the mediation fails, the case moves forward in front of the judge. Nazem said the strategy of offering mediation to landlords without a lawyer is common across the country. “We often find that the self-represented small mom-and-pop landlords who are not regular users of the court system may be particularly good fit for mediation,” Nazem said. “Because it really takes some of the stress and complexity out of having to navigate court.” So who does participate, and why? Linde, the landlord, represents himself in eviction court. He’s found some mixed success with the mediation program, which he's participated in multiple times. The mediation with the grandmother and her family who live south of Kellogg resulted in Linde receiving $900 in back rent. Linde said the family is still behind on rent, but he’s not upset. Keeping the family in the home actually prevents expensive vacancies and turnover, he said. “The last people that moved out cost me five grand,” he said. Linde points out a home he owns in South Wichita (Courtesy: Celia Hack/KMUW) Mediation can also be cheaper and less time-intensive than filing an eviction, Lessman said. It costs between $56 to $122 to file an eviction case in court. Aside from money, Linde said he participates in mediation is because he knows what it’s like to receive second, third, even fourth chances. During his childhood, teens and 20s, he said he dealt with mental health challenges and homelessness. Through tears, he expressed his gratitude to a local carpentry union that gave him a job and changed the course of his life. “They treated me really good,” Linde said. “I got in trouble, beat up the superintendent, got kicked out. They got me back in.” “I owe society … because it's been so good to me.” Linde said the volunteer mediators are unbiased and have helped him calmly work through challenging conversations with tenants. He added that even if a mediation doesn’t always work out exactly the way he wants it to, his rental homes – about 40 in total – still typically turn a profit. “I'm not going to lose. Most of these other landlords … they can get beat out of a couple months rent,” Linde said. “They can lose some money. They're not going under.” One of the best parts of mediation, Linde said, is how it closes the divide between tenants and landlords — allowing both parties to feel more ownership of the ultimate decision that gets made. “These tenants go away so angry,” Linde said. “… It can make a better society if people walk away happier at the outcomes. Celia Hack is a general assignment reporter for KMUW, where she covers everything from housing to environmental issues to Sedgwick County. Before KMUW, she worked at The Wichita Beacon covering local government and as a freelancer for The Shawnee Mission Post and the Kansas Leadership Center’s The Journal. She is originally from Westwood, Kansas, but Wichita is her home now. This article was produced as part of the Wichita Journalism Collaborative, which includes KMUW and 10 other organizations and community groups, including KSN-TV.