Our clients are predominantly women. Recent studies suggest that about two-thirds of our female clients have been the victims of domestic violence. In 1998, we preserved housing for 914 persons through defense of evictions, foreclosures and lockouts. Disability benefits increase the poor s ability to pay rent and avoid eviction. In 1998, we won disability benefits which provided subsistence income to about 600 persons.
Some landlords think they are above the law.
S s landlord sued to evict her from her subsidized apartment where she had lived for ten years. The first judge denied the eviction finding no cause for termination of S s lease. The landlord ignored this judgment and refiled the same eviction before a different judge who granted the eviction. We appealed this judgment to a higher court which reversed S s eviction. The landlord then filed a third eviction which sought to evict S for the same reasons that had been rejected by the courts in the first two lawsuits.