This article is republished with permission from the Plain Press. The press conference on eviction help was organized by the Neighborhood and Community Media Association of Greater Cleveland (NCMA-CLE), an association of 14 community media outlets serving Greater Cleveland, including the Plain Press and The Cleveland Observer.
United Way of Greater Cleveland, the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, and CHN Housing Partners have teamed up in a public-private partnership with the City of Cleveland to offer free assistance to qualified residents facing eviction.
The two programs paired together, the Right to Counsel Program of Legal Aid and Rental Assistance Program at CHN Housing Partners, are successful in helping those eligible to stay in their homes and avoid the destabilization and life-altering impact of eviction. Program advocates from United Way, Legal Aid and CHN Housing Partners would all like to see the City of Cleveland increase its commitment to these programs and expand eligibility to more households facing eviction.
Julie Wisneski, director of housing stability at United Way, said tenants facing eviction can seek help at the website: www.freeevictionhelp.org or by calling 211. Wisneski said that United Way, as part of its commitment to market the program, works with Cleveland Housing Court to insert a notice about assistance programs with each eviction notice.
One of the programs available to tenants facing eviction is the City of Cleveland Right to Counsel program run by Legal Aid. Melanie Shakarian, an attorney at the Legal Aid said that prior to the Right to Counsel program, less than 1% of the 9,000 households facing eviction in the year before the program started had access to counsel. Now 25% to 30% of Cleveland tenants facing eviction have access to legal counsel. Shakarian urges tenants to call Legal Aid when they are worried about an eviction, even before an eviction process has started. She said there is a lot that Legal Aid attorneys can do to help, especially with all the rental assistance money now available.
Shakarian said that currently the Right to Counsel program is only available to households who have children in the home and an income at 100% of the poverty level or less. Sharkarian would like to see eligibility expanded to all households at 200% of poverty or less – including senior citizens and households without children.
Currently, the cost of the Right to Counsel Program in the City of Cleveland is $2 million per year; $300,000 of that amount is contributed by the City of Cleveland through the Community Development Block Grant funding with the remaining of the funding coming from philanthropic sources. To fully fund the program to include all households at 200% of poverty or less, Shakarian estimates it would cost $4 million per year. She would like to see the City of Cleveland fully fund the program with public dollars as a long-term right for all Cleveland households with incomes at 200% of poverty or below, regardless of household composition.
According to Shakarian, when a Legal Aid attorney provides help to a tenant, they are successful more than 90% of the time. Shakarian said an evaluation of the Right to Counsel program shows its success helping with housing stability (allowing families to stay in their home), increasing healthy conditions in housing (which sometimes involves a family moving out of an unhealthy house to a house that is in better condition), documenting the status of housing stock, making sure tenants get security deposits back (crucial in getting new housing), providing tenants with rental assistance, removing evictions from tenants’ records (a huge barrier to future housing), and holding landlords accountable.
Cleveland Housing Court sends United Way a weekly list of those households facing eviction. Wisnesk said each week there are roughly 125 to 170 households on the list. She said United Way sends a letter to each household on the eviction list describing the Right to Counsel Program; Cleveland Housing Court also includes in each eviction notice, contact information about available eviction prevention help that is printed in both English and Spanish.
Citing data collected by United Way while monitoring the program, Wisneski said that two of the three zip codes in Cleveland that currently have the highest eviction rates are zip codes 44102 and 44109. (Both are in the Plain Press service area). The zip code in Cleveland with the third highest eviction rate is 44105. To read the full report, visit: TheCollinwoodObserver.com)
Editor’s Note: Information about free eviction help in Cleveland is available online at freeevictionhelp.org, or by referral from United Way by calling 211. Other important phone numbers are: Free Eviction Help at 216-861-5835; Legal Aid Society of Cleveland Traditional Intake Line at 216-861-5835; and CHN Housing Partners at 216-672-3553.