Read about the work of our grantees and the clients they have helped. This month’s story is from Bread for the City and their collaborative Housing Right to Counsel Pilot Project, which received a $91,000 grant from DCBF. This project’s goal is to prevent displacement and the loss of affordable housing by increasing access to counsel for low-income tenants in subsidized housing facing eviction.
In December 2016, a woman living in a HUD-subsidized home with her two young children was attacked, and her sister was injured by the assailants. In the aftermath, her landlord sued her for eviction for engaging in unlawful activity that threatened the health and safety of others. With her housing subsidy attached to the property, an eviction would have lost her all rights to any subsidized housing in the future, putting affordable housing out of reach, and resulting in homelessness.
As part of the Right to Counsel Pilot Project, the woman was connected to an attorney to represent her in her case, and the case was eventually dismissed. The woman and her children remained in their home and, more importantly, kept her subsidy that will keep her in housing she can afford.
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