Advocacy Center Success Stories: Edition #2

These are true stories of what goes on behind the scenes at the Advocacy Center. Names have been removed to protect privacy.

One of the Advocacy Center's attorneys was assigned a case involving a woman who is deaf and has cognitive disabilities. The client had been receiving Section 8 housing assistance when her landlord evicted her on trumped up charges that she had damaged the apartment. It was never made clear to the client why the landlord wanted to evict her, and, to make matters worse, despite the presence of an interpreter at the eviction hearing, the presiding judge interrupted frequently and would not listen to the suggestions of the interpreter that the client could not understand unless the judge allowed communication to go through the interpreter. The client felt badgered and intimidated on the witness stand and still did not understand why her landlord wanted her out. She was evicted.

AC was contacted a few weeks ago, because, as a result of the eviction, the client was facing loss of her Section 8 voucher. This has implications beyond her access to housing, because the client also receives waiver services - no home, no services. The housing authority had not taken appropriate steps to communicate with the client. The AC attorney's job was to ask the housing authority to extend a reasonable modification to the client (i.e., not revoke her voucher on the basis of eviction, because she didn't actually understand the eviction and wasn't given a fair hearing). By the time the attorney contacted the housing authority, an informal hearing (requested by the client's provider) was already scheduled. After speaking to the attorney, the housing authority has reinstated the client's voucher effective immediately and the hearing has been canceled.