In the Media

More low-income tenants facing eviction in the District will soon arrive in court with something that has been shown to keep families in their homes and, in some cases, ensure they don’t lose access to government housing assistance: a lawyer. Beginning this month, a coalition of six nonprofits, 19 private law firms and the D.C. Access to Justice Commission will relaunch an initiative that, officials said, will guarantee more D.C. tenants who receive some kind of government housing subsidy access to a lawyer to represent them for free throughout eviction proceedings.

A group of six nonprofit legal service organizations and 19 law firms are reviving a pilot program that matches some tenants facing eviction with free legal assistance, reviving a pre-pandemic effort that helped dozens of families stay in their homes. Spearheaded by Legal Aid DC, participating groups will begin notifying eligible tenants about the program by the end of November. Program participants have pledged to provide counsel to one out of every six tenants who use a housing subsidy and are facing a publicly scheduled eviction proceeding in November and December.

Legal Aid Executive Director Vikram Swaruup was interviewed by Law360: "What's inspired my entire career trajectory is my personal experiences of witnessing discrimination, harassment and violence against the communities that I'm a part of."

Feature in Washington Lawyer Magazine about Legal Aid's new Executive Director, Vikram Swaruup

Coverage in DCist featured Legal Aid's Vikram Swaruup and former client Melissa Chapman: “Without DC Legal Aid, a lot of people would be left out to dry and would have no voice,” she says. Access to free civil legal services, she adds, “gives people a voice, and makes sure that they’re not railroaded or bullied.”

Testimony from Legal Aid's Amanda Korber was featured in The Washington Post: "To me, this means DCHA is sending a clear message with its policy: It is more interested in clearing its waitlist and making itself look good than actually housing people."

Washington Informer coverage of the 2023 Servant of Justice Awards Dinner

Legal Aid's Amanda Korber was quoted in DCist in an article about the D.C. Housing Authority reopening its waitlist: "...the public housing waitlist is stagnant because units have been sitting dilapidated and vacant. That’s part of my frustration – there is a mismatch between what they’re doing and what they’re trying to solve. That isn’t and wasn’t what the problem with the waitlist was.”

Legal Aid's June Lee was quoted in DCist's coverage of advocacy efforts at the D.C. Council: “It’s kind of premised on the idea that if you want to be pro-immigrant, you also want to be anti-poverty, you want to be anti-discrimination.”