Written by Robert Higgs in The Plain Dealer on 8/21/2019
CLEVELAND, Ohio – City Council introduced legislation Wednesday that would establish a program that provides lawyers free of charge to impoverished families facing eviction.
The legislation is an important step toward stabilizing neighborhoods and ensuring that impoverished families with children have someone advocating for their rights in court City Council President Kevin Kelley said. Eviction is disruptive for landlord and tenants, and in the case of a family with children, it can cause turmoil.
“We start with the fact that we’re evicting too many children,” Kelley said in an interview with cleveland.com.
The legislation is the result of months of planning and research by the Housing Justice Alliance, a panel that includes Kelley and others on City Council, the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association and Cleveland Academy of Trial Attorneys.
How will it work?
The United Way of Greater Cleveland will serve as the lead partner organization and manage the program, Kelley said.
A news release describes the program as the first of its kind in the Midwest.
If the legislation is passed, the program will begin providing legal representation to eligible tenants -- households with children that are at 100% of the federal poverty level -- in June 2020.
Kelley said Legal Aid, Cleveland Marshall College of Law and the bar associations will help to provide lawyers. United Way will provide training.
He envisions Cleveland’s Housing Court assigning cases to attorneys drawn from a list provided by United Way – much like other case assignment systems for impoverished clients.
Tenants would be able seek more information by contacting United Way of Greater Cleveland’s 2-1-1 HelpLink, a 24-hour hotline or the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland’s tenant hotline at 216-861-5955 (Cuyahoga County) or 440-210-4533 (Ashtabula, Lake, Geauga and Lorain Counties).
During an interview last May, Kelley said Legal Aid could pick up part of the cost through its budget. But other funding likely will have to come from the local philanthropic community. Ultimately the city will be on the hook for a chunk of the tab.
Kelley said Wednesday that the city has yet to confirm the cost it might have to absorb to pay the lawyers. The expectation, though, is that the cost to the city likely won’t exceed $300,000 a year, and that it could be less depending on the level of outside support for the program.
Because the United Way will be the lead partner, tenants participating in the program also will get access to United Way’s network of health and human services nonprofits that can help them with issues involving food, childcare, education and employment.
What’s the issue?
When a family loses its home, that is emotionally jarring. The eviction can have an impact on a child’s education if they’re forced to change schools. For the parent, the strain of finding a new place to live could lead to a loss of employment.
And for some families, eviction leads to homelessness.
As a result of eviction, families and neighborhoods are destabilized, the ordinance states. The impact is most felt by "the most vulnerable among us, resulting in homelessness, decreased property values, and harm to social tranquility and the general welfare of the city."
Cuyahoga County landlords file about 20,000 eviction cases each year and about half those cases occur in Cleveland, according to the Legal Aid Society, which provides lawyers for some clients with incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty rate.
Landlords have a tremendous advantage when the cases come to Cleveland Housing Court because only 1% to 2% of tenants have legal representation, Legal Aid’s research shows.
About 75% of landlords appear with lawyers for eviction proceedings.
The new ordinance proclaims that City Council finds the lack of legal counsel for tenants during eviction cases “is a violation of a basic human right.”
Legal Aid’s research found that about 80% of the Cleveland cases involve claims of non-payment of rent, but about one-third of those facing eviction also said their landlord’s actions were triggered after the tenants made complaints about the conditions of their residence.
About three-quarters of those facing eviction are women. More than 70% of those women are African American. Sixty percent of the cases involve children.
In addition to the lack of representation, Legal Aid found that tenants often had problems appearing in court because they fear losing their jobs if they miss work.
But if they are evicted, they also could lose their jobs while trying to find housing.
As part of its research, the Legal Aid Society recorded the amount of time it took for the housing court to dispose of eviction cases.
In cases where tenants did not appear in court, proceedings lasted less than 2 minutes. The longest proceedings, which involved contested evictions, lasted seven minutes.
What happens next?
The legislation will be referred to City Council’s committees for vetting. That process, which will involve hearings, could take several weeks.
Ultimately the ordinance will be returned to the full council for a final vote, probably in late September or October.