Page 18 - December 2018 | Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Journal

BarJournal COLuMN

LegAL AId COrner
JULY/AUGUST 2015

THe HOUSIng JUSTICe ALLIAnCe

Investing in the Community by Providing

Tenants the Right to Legal Counsel

Chris Patno

You have the right to an attorney” — The removal of the stable housing card Center study found that unstable housing
everyone is familiar with the Miranda causes all to begin to collapse. circumstances are associated with adverse
right thanks to television crime But what if mom got the legal help she health outcomes for caregivers and young
shows. Our constitution ensures needed, what if someone who understood children. Specifically, the strain of homelessness,
‘‘access to no-cost legal counsel when the system intervened for her family? How multiple moves and even being behind on rent
someone is accused of a serious crime and would their future change? is linked with maternal depression, increased
cannot afford an attorney. Yet many do not The stakes are extremely high in eviction child hospitalizations, and poor overall health
realize there is no such constitutional right to cases. A household can lose so much and it for both children and caregivers. 1
legal counsel in housing cases — even if the happens very quickly. Yet, standing before Furthermore, a 2016 Harvard University
cases lead to homelessness. the judge, landlords are usually represented study showed that workers were 11 to 22%
Picture a young mom living in poverty, by counsel, and tenants almost always are not. more likely to lose jobs if they were recently
working hard to make ends meet to provide The trial lasts five minutes. Most tenants lose. evicted or otherwise forced from their
for her family, to keep them healthy and safe. When tenants lose, their families and society homes. For many, an eviction spurs a spiral
2
Now, imagine just one thing goes wrong, and often lose. Much of this loss may be avoidable into deeper poverty, creating lasting inequity
that one thing changes the course of her life – if legal counsel is available to tenants. for every member of the evicted family.
her landlord files an eviction. She can’t afford And once a tenant has an eviction on their
to hire a lawyer to defend her family; she has Consequences of Evictions record, that eviction cannot be erased. This
no voice, no right to counsel, in a system that Research shows that evictions lead to: makes it much harder for tenants to find
is not designed to be navigated alone. She • Employment loss (missed work due to future housing.
loses her home, ends up having to move – a attending trial and moving) In Cleveland, the hypothetical mother
lot, falling deeper and deeper into poverty • Health problems – greater hospitalizations, described above would normally face the
by moving into substandard housing. They depression, other illnesses eviction process alone She is one in about
may even end up homeless. The situation • Lower achievement and higher drop outs 9,000 – 10,000 evictions that are filed every
becomes unstable, unsafe, mom loses her for children in school year in the City of Cleveland. And, of those
job, she becomes depressed, the kids change • Increased use of all social service systems 9,000 evictions, only 1–2% of tenants are
schools and fall behind. Eventually they end • Less stable communities represented in court by an attorney. In stark
up dropping out. Her children see that the An eviction can be devastating to a family’s contrast, 90% of landlords nationally are
system doesn’t work for people like them. overall wellbeing. A 2018 Boston Medical represented by an attorney.
Historically, the 1 to 2% of tenants have
been represented by Legal Aid. The attorneys
at Legal Aid have been able to stop issues from
escalating into more expensive community
problems. Founded in 1905, Legal Aid is
the only nonprofit specifically addressing the
civil legal needs of Northeast Ohio’s poor,
marginalized and disenfranchised. Its 45
staff attorneys and 35 support staff members
provide high-quality civil legal service where
and when people need it most. With more
than a century of expertise in poverty law and
housing advocacy, Legal Aid is poised to halt
the cascade of consequences that inevitably
flow from eviction and homelessness.
18 | Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Journal clemetrobar.org