You have rights when a landlord decides to evict

For going on six years, the 28-year-old has been embroiled in a dispute with the agency, which is holding her accountable for months of back rent, court fees and damages to the apartment that she says occurred after she moved out.

The mess has landed Reed and her family at Hesed House, and she says efforts to get out of the homeless shelter have failed repeatedly because few landlords will accept a tenant who has been evicted.

"It's on my record and on my credit report," she said as she waited to meet with an attorney about the matter at Hesed House's new legal clinic.

"He helped me a great deal," she said later, after learning that a bankruptcy declaration might be a way to prevent landlords from using the eviction against her in the future.

The free clinic at Hesed House, which opened last week to provide advice and referrals, is designed to address legal issues like Reed's that often can compound the problem of poverty and lead to chronic homelessness.

"Somebody shouldn't end up homeless because of legal problems," said Diane Nilan, director of the Public Action to Deliver Shelter program at Hesed House.

Organizers of the new Hope Legal Assistance and Referral Clinic, however, found the opposite to be true when they conducted an unscientific survey last fall.

Of the 60 Hesed House residents who responded, 38 said they had some kind of legal case pending, said Bill Bolotin of Naperville, who helped plan the clinic and also was one of three attorneys who staffed it during the opening night.

Issues cited on the survey ranged from problems collecting Social Security benefits and worker's compensation to the need to get criminal records expunged because they stand in the way of housing and employment, he said.

Others said they have issues with child support — a mother who isn't receiving any or a father who's behind on payments and doesn't know what his options are, said Ryan Dowd, 24, the third-year law student and Hesed House intern who runs the clinic.

"We have a number of individuals who just were having horrible luck with the legal system," he said.

In June, the Illinois State Bar Association honored Dowd with a $250 award in recognition of his efforts with the clinic and other projects at Northern Illinois University, where he is studying law and earning a master's degree in public administration.

Dowd funneled the award money into the clinic, which he said relies entirely on volunteers and has no operating budget.

So far, he has recruited 12 lawyers to staff the clinic every other Tuesday evening and to act as referrals. He said he hopes to grow the list to 30 or 40 attorneys, and those with experience on criminal cases are needed particularly.

The clinic is designed to fill in the gaps offered by other legal-assistance programs in the area, such as Prairie State Legal Services.

Because Prairie State is federally funded, it cannot take criminal cases, he said, and, because a public defender is usually only appointed when a defendant faces jail time, Hesed House's legal clinic is designed to take the cases in between, he said.

Dowd said the clinic also will take cases Prairie State can't accept because of conflicts of interest when the agency already is representing a party in the same legal matter.

"We've got a very good relationship with Prairie State, and we don't want to reinvent the wheel or run into their turf," Dowd said.

Hesed House officials have been working closely with Prairie State attorney Steve Pick, who was offering advice at the clinic along with Bolotin and long-time PADS lawyer Pat Kinnally.

Pick said it's important to bring legal services to the shelter because residents who lack transportation often have no way to get to Prairie State's Batavia office.

"It's a one-stop shopping concept," he said of Hesed House, noting that the shelter already has an on-site health facility known as the Rainbow Clinic.

Contact Mary Ellen Moore at (630) 844-5882 or mmoore@scn1.com.

10/14/02

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Hesed House provides legal help Free advice: Volunteer attorneys staff new clinic; cases vary widely

Hesed House provides legal help
Free advice: Volunteer attorneys staff new clinic; cases vary widely