Legal Aid Newsletter 4/1/2021 – Protecting the Rights of Tenants, Survivors, and All DC Residents

Dear Friends of Legal Aid,

Since the start of the pandemic, Legal Aid has received more than 6,000 calls from DC tenants worried about their homes. And that’s despite a strong, local ban on evictions that the DC Council and Mayor recently extended to May 20.  

Legal Aid advocated emphatically for a blanket ban on evictions last year, because we knew that any gaps might leave some tenants vulnerable. One attorney was just telling me about speaking with a tenant who had received a notice to vacate from his landlord demanding that he leave his home.  The tenant had started to pack his things, unsure where he would go. Fortunately, our lawyer was able to reassure the tenant that his landlord had no power to evict him during this crisis.  

Tenants in other jurisdictions have not had the same protection. The federal eviction moratorium includes gaps that have allowed tens of thousands of evictions nationwide. Just across the border in Maryland,  hundreds of tenants are being sued for eviction each month in a variety of “creative” ways. Similarly, in Virginia, tenants are being brought to court over “lease violations” that might typically be ignored. These cases would be impossible to file in the District. 

Despite the District’s more comprehensive moratorium, the fight to protect tenants’ rights is not over. A mayoral commission on rental housing, stacked with developers and landlords, is likely to propose rollbacks to tenant protections. Over $350 million in rental assistance is headed to the District as part of the $1.9 trillion federal stimulus legislation, but we are watching closely to make sure it is distributed as intended. DC has an uneven record in deploying federal funds. More than a year into the pandemic, the District government has failed to take full advantage of a 100%-federally-reimbursable program that would place DC residents experiencing homelessness in open hotel rooms (please consider signing the petition sponsored by the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless if you’re a DC resident). And the DC Housing Finance Agency, after over a year of advocacy from Legal Aid and AARP’s Legal Counsel for the Elderly, has only just reopened a program that allows homeowners to apply for up to $60,000in 100%-federal, forgivable assistance to catch up on their mortgages.  

This help cannot come fast enough. Former Legal Aid client Chakyya Harrison was profiled in the Washington Post on Monday. She gave the reporter intimate access into her and her husband’s struggle to provide for their children on a minimum-wage job and limited help from the government, particularly since she is unable to work due to the pandemic. 

“They made the world so there’s a top, a middle, and a bottom,” Ms. Harrison told the reporter. “I always had felt like I was at the top of the bottom. And that I might be able to get to the middle. But now y’all got to pay us just to survive.”

Even more than a year into the pandemic, so much remains uncertain. What is certain is that, thanks to the support of our generous donors, Legal Aid is committed to fighting for our individual clients, and for the thousands of DC residents who will never get access to a lawyer. Thank you, and please read on for more about your work and ways you can help. 

All the best, 

Eric 

Eric Angel | Executive Director

Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia

1331 H Street, NW | Suite 350 

Washington, DC 20005 | www.LegalAidDC.org

Supporting Domestic Violence Survivors

A new national study from the University of California, Davis, confirmed what we at Legal Aid have seen in our day-to-day work in DC: the pandemic has exacerbated intimate partner violence. Legal Aid alone has conducted nearly 1,000 initial client intakes with domestic violence survivors over the last year. 

Our inability to be in our clients’ physical presence has made that work all the more challenging, as Staff Attorney Yoli Ramos wrote on our blog this week: 

“I went into this type of work to support domestic violence survivors. It has been much more difficult to be that support when the only contact I have with clients is over the phone, and when I see them for the first time at a virtual court hearing.” 

Most of our domestic violence work centers on helping survivors obtain protection orders, child custody, child support, and divorces. Recently, Staff Attorney Marcia Hollingsworth went even further, helping one survivor finally move on from abuse she experienced decades ago.  

Marcia’s client, Erin Anderson (name changed for confidentiality), is a native Washingtonian. As a young woman, she met an older man and thought of their relationship as promising. He helped her with housing and financial support that she urgently needed. Later, she discovered his true and wicked intentions. He abused her and forced her to engage in commercial sex acts. She was arrested for and charged with sexual solicitation on multiple occasions and pled guilty in one case. Eventually, she cut ties with her abuser and moved on with a commitment to get an education and improve her life. 

Over time, Ms. Anderson earned both an undergraduate and a graduate degree. She has had a long career in social work, primarily helping adults with disabilities. Unfortunately, since leaving her last job, she has not secured a professional position and she wondered if her criminal history might be the cause. 

Ms. Anderson spoke with Marcia in September 2019, who filed a complex motion to seal Ms. Anderson’s criminal records, and then amended it to add new arguments under the DC human trafficking statute. It was a lengthy legal process. Based on Marcia’s strong arguments, the court granted the motion – meaning that the court recognized Ms. Anderson as a survivor of trafficking and dismissed her conviction and expunged all arrest records. Ms. Anderson no longer has a criminal record, and she can move forward knowing that her past conviction and arrests no longer stand in her way. 

Community Advisory Council Member Spotlight: Tangela Hicks 

This past month, Legal Aid has been deeply involved in providing testimony at oversight hearings for DC agencies, which aims to improve agency policies and procedures. A key element of our feedback includes client testimony – firsthand accounts from those who needed help from these agencies but for whom the system failed. 

Though we work with many clients on these efforts, we would be remiss not to highlight the significant contributions over the last several weeks of our own Community Advisory Council member, Tangela Hicks.  

“You all make it possible for mine and other’s voices to be heard.

I am forever grateful for you all.” – Tangela Hicks 

Over the last several weeks, Ms. Hicks has worked with Legal Aid to submit written and/or oral testimony for several agency oversight hearings. As a result, we are pleased to share that Ms. Hicks had several oversight victories of her own.  

*After her testimony about issues with dental coverage with AmeriHealth, a supervisor from AmeriHealth contacted her about resolving the issue and giving her pointers and a direct contact number to help others. 

*She submitted testimony about her daughter’s issues with emergency shelter/housing and was later contacted by one of Councilmember Brianne Nadeau’s staff.  

*At the DC Housing Authority (DCHA) oversight hearing, Ms. Hicks testified about issues with DCHA not paying its portion of her rent and the trouble she is having relocating with her voucher to the Brookland area. Ms. Hicks’ son is starting school in Brookland, and she wanted to find a home closer to his school. After she was done testifying, Councilmember Anita Bonds said that her staff would follow up with her to address the issues raised by Ms. Hicks.  

Legal Aid seeks to empower D.C. residents to engage in self-advocacy. We congratulate Ms. Hicks on achieving real results through her hard work and determination to escalate her issues. And we thank her for working with us to ensure that others do not encounter the same obstacles that she faced. 

Keilah Roberts: “This is exactly the work that I wanted to do”

Keilah Roberts is a Staff Attorney in the Housing Law Unit who joined Legal Aid in November 2020. She is a native of Rochester, New York, and a cum laude graduate of the University of the District of Columbia, David A. Clarke School of Law. Her legal experiences include serving as a Student Attorney in the General Practice Law Clinic representing clients in child custody cases. Keilah also served as a Student Attorney in the Community Development Law Clinic where she provided legal advice to housing cooperatives. Her other legal experiences include interning at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. When Keilah is not being a zealous advocate for her clients, she enjoys cooking and rooting for the Baltimore Ravens. 

What made you want to come work at Legal Aid? 

I wanted to come work at the Legal Aid of the District of Columbia because it is the premier legal services organization in the country. I knew that I wanted to be in the housing unit because my family faced eviction when I was a teenager. It is very important to be able to provide the legal assistance that I wish my family had the opportunity to receive. Legal Aid has a robust housing practice that includes not only eviction defense but also initiatives to preserve affordable housing in the District of Columbia. This is exactly the work that I wanted to do.  

What has surprised you about working at Legal Aid? 

What surprised me about working at Legal Aid is how warm and helpful the entire staff is. Each person I have had the pleasure of working with has gone out of their way to ensure that I have everything I need to be successful. This is my first experience practicing law and, as one can imagine, a new attorney would have many questions. Everyone is very encouraging of asking questions and really wants to see me learn and succeed.   

What would you say about the clients you have worked with so far? 
Working with my clients each day is the best part of my job. They are as diverse as the legal issues that I assist them with, so no two days are the same. My clients are vibrant and keep my practice exciting.  

2021 Virtual Servant of Justice Awards

In the midst of our work to make justice real for our clients, we are also planning our 2021 Servant of Justice Awards that will be held virtually on April 29th. This year’s esteemed Servant of Justice honorees are John Heintz and Avis Buchanan. In addition, we are awarding Elliot Weingarten the Klepper Prize for Volunteer Excellence, and presenting our Partnership Award to Cynthia Spencer, who is a former Legal Aid client and member of Legal Aid’s Community Advisory Council. With so much stress and strife around us daily, we are pleased to add some joy by celebrating them for their outstanding service. We hope you will join us!