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Chicago to Provide Free Legal Aid to Renters Facing Eviction

The $8 million, three-year pilot program will provide legal defense, in and out of court, to low-income renters who have experienced financial hardship due to the pandemic and are at risk of housing instability.

(TNS) — Low-income Chicago renters facing eviction will soon have access to free legal assistance under a new city program, Chicago officials said Monday.

The city has selected legal service providers for the $8 million, three-year pilot program, which is intended to boost housing stability and limit the fallout from the eviction process. They will provide legal defense, in and out of court, and assistance such as referrals to housing counseling for eligible renters who are at risk of eviction.

The program is expected to begin later this year, though no exact date has been set, Department of Housing spokeswoman Eugenia Orr said.

The announcement comes months after the state’s moratorium on evictions expired, and as thousands of tenants have sought help paying rent during the pandemic through assistance programs.

When the program begins, Chicago will join other big cities such as New York and San Francisco in providing legal help for certain tenants facing eviction. The Chicago program has been praised by housing advocates, but Michael Zink, a housing attorney who is active in the small landlord association Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance, has previously described it as “an antidote to something that’s other than the problem” for small landlords.

Chicago Department of Housing officials said in a statement legal assistance is one of the best ways to prevent evictions. Landlords are more likely to have legal representation than tenants, and “unrepresented renters are much more likely to lose their cases and their homes, regardless of the merits of their case,” they said.

“Just as the Department of Housing works to expand housing access and choice for all residents regardless of income or ZIP code, through the Right to Counsel pilot program, we are working to ensure that those vulnerable to eviction have the legal representation they need to help them remain in their homes,” housing Commissioner Marisa Novara said in a statement.

The program will be funded with federal dollars.

Renters will be eligible if they make no more than 80 percent of the area’s median income, or $74,550 for a family of four. Someone in the household must have experienced financial hardship because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and they must be at risk of housing instability or homelessness.

The Department of Housing expects many renters will access the program through the Early Resolution Program, which provides legal aid, mediation and case management in eviction cases, but does not offer full legal representation to tenants. Renters will also be able to seek assistance outside the resolution program.

Services will be provided by two legal aid groups: the Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing, working with Legal Aid Chicago and an agency known as the Coordinated Advice and Referral Program for Legal Services; and Beyond Legal Aid, which will provide services through a network of community legal aid programs. Both groups will receive one-year contracts, with the option to renew them for two additional years.

During the pilot, the Chicago Bar Foundation will evaluate the program’s success at preventing evictions and work with city officials and a local company to examine the costs and benefits of the program.

“Eviction has immense collateral consequences,” said Debbie Reznick senior program officer at Polk Bros. Foundation, which is funding the Chicago Bar Foundation’s evaluation, in a statement. “The displacement and instability caused by the eviction process can exacerbate physical and mental health issues, disrupt children’s educations, impact job performance, and ultimately lead to illness, unemployment, and homelessness. Learnings from the evaluation of the Right to Counsel pilot program will inform efforts to expand and sustain legal representation and other supportive services for tenants facing eviction.”


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