Local law students help families facing eviction - KETV Omaha
LINCOLN, Neb. —
A local effort to help thousands of families facing eviction gains national attention from the White House and the US Attorney General.
It's called the Tenant Assistance Project and four days per week, University of Nebraska Law students and over 20 other organizations transform parts of the second floor of the Lancaster County Courthouse into a coalition of compassion.
"To let them know that there is help," Rachel Tomlinson Dick said.
She is a third-year Nebraska Law student who is one of 100 students who have volunteered in the TAP program since it began in April 2020 as the first moratorium on evictions was set to expire.
The law students do research on every eviction case coming up, notify renters of their court date and even wait at the elevators for people showing up for hearings to offer free legal advice.
"It has meant so much to me. So many of the people that I've helped are just they're all just amazing, hardworking people. That have you know, come onto a hard time," Dick said.
The volunteers direct families to social workers so they can apply for immediate emergency rental assistance and other community programs in the courthouse.
"So there are a lot of moving parts," Dick said.
The idea started with NU Law professor Ryan Sullivan.
"We're probably close to surpassing 1,000 families that we've assisted," Sullivan said.
Sullivan said his students get experience researching eviction cases and helping represent renters.
One married couple who didn't want to be identified said they were grateful for the help.
"We would have been a lot worse place this if these people aren't here to volunteer to represent us. I thought we would have to go home and pack our stuff after court," the father said.
The couple said they have six kids and it came down to buying formula for their twins or paying rent
"I worked a lot of overtime and my boss cut my hours like 50 hours. So the paycheck that was supposed to go to rent, we couldn't make it," the mother said.
Landlords like Brett Sonday said the program has benefited them as well.
"We don't want to evict people if we don't need to, but we got to protect the interest of our property owners," Sonday said.
Sonday owns some rental property and also is a property manager with Arrow Capital LLC.
"You'd think we're showing up to evict somebody and they're representing the other party but quickly we realized working together, it does create that win, win situation," Sonday said.
Last week the program was highlighted in a White House Webinar.
Nebraska is among 99 law schools across the country to answer US Attorney General Merrick Garland's call to the legal community for volunteer anti-eviction programs.
Nebraska was one of six schools that presented its program.
"I'm hopeful that other law schools in other states will see what we're doing and utilize and capitalize on volunteerism," Sullivan said.
For Dick, it's about a hug she got from a single mom grateful for the help.
"She asked if she could give me a hug and just said thank you for being so nice to me. And that just always gets to me because I didn't really feel like I was being nice. I felt like I was doing the bare minimum of treating this person with basic human dignity," Dick said.
Dick said the number of evictions has not slowed down.
This past week there were 77 hearings in Lancaster County Court.
"Eviction actions are still being filed at pretty alarming rates," Dick said.
Creighton Law students also have a tenant assistance project at Douglas County courts.
Creighton said its students have provided more than 220 hours of free legal service.
Good Housekeeping
source: https://www.ketv.com/article/local-law-students-help-families-facing-eviction/38988044
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