Nebraska College of Law: Providing Representation for Families Facing Eviction

Curt Bright Author

07/29/2022 Added

119 Plays

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Law professor Ryan Sullivan creates a project to combat the rise in evictions during the pandemic.

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[00:00:00.149](uplifting music)
[00:00:04.950]Right now, we're facing an eviction crisis
[00:00:07.140]in our country and in our state.
[00:00:09.330]What my research has identified
[00:00:10.770]is that there are a lot of preventable evictions.
[00:00:13.950]What we are seeing at the Courthouse
[00:00:15.540]are evictions that are taking place
[00:00:17.280]where the family qualified for rental assistance
[00:00:20.520]but the process moves so quickly
[00:00:23.070]that their application cannot go through in time
[00:00:25.980]to pay the landlord before the eviction order is entered.
[00:00:37.430]The Tenant Assistance Project
[00:00:38.760]sets up shop at the Courthouse,
[00:00:41.220]and we meet tenants as they come off the elevator
[00:00:43.920]and we offer them legal assistance
[00:00:45.690]if they're facing eviction.
[00:00:47.700]The tenant is then paired, typically with a law student,
[00:00:51.870]who will complete an intake.
[00:00:53.820]And then that law student is paired
[00:00:55.230]with a volunteer attorney,
[00:00:56.850]and they work together to try to negotiate
[00:00:58.950]a fair outcome for that tenant.
[00:01:00.810]We want landlords to get paid
[00:01:02.550]because we want them to be able to pay their mortgages
[00:01:06.060]and keep their properties repaired.
[00:01:08.220]And we want our tenants,
[00:01:09.810]our low income families, to remain housed.
[00:01:12.480]Prior to launching the project in April of 2020,
[00:01:15.480]the tenant had virtually no chance of success
[00:01:18.360]at the Courthouse.
[00:01:19.193]Nearly every tenant was evicted, often that day.
[00:01:23.700]After the project, and since the project's been in place,
[00:01:26.700]we have a 98% success rate
[00:01:28.950]in helping that family avoid immediate eviction.
[00:01:34.320]With this project, everybody wins.
[00:01:36.720]The landlord gets paid, the tenant remains housed.
[00:01:40.110]The students get great experiential learning opportunities,
[00:01:43.290]and society wins, too, because we have less homelessness.
[00:01:53.490]It's very heavy work
[00:01:55.170]to be able to help a family not be evicted that day,
[00:02:00.270]to be able to help them transition to newer, safer housing,
[00:02:03.870]to be able to help them apply for
[00:02:05.820]and receive rental assistance
[00:02:07.320]that will allow their family to stay housed.
[00:02:10.290]And what makes it even more rewarding
[00:02:11.760]is working side-by-side with my rockstar students
[00:02:14.970]who are really out there making a difference.
[00:02:17.014](uplifting music)

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Nebraska College of Law: Providing Representation for Families Facing Eviction

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