Media ContactLisa Ramirez, Communications Manager, lramirez@mylegalaid.org
It was clear the Housing Authority had miscalculated our client’s benefits. But, Housing Attorney Courtney Arthur found that proving it wasn’t going to be a quick fix.
What Sean and Nina needed was permanent custody but navigating the process wasn’t easy. Then they found Legal Aid. “Joe rolled up his sleeves and did the paperwork for us,” Sean recalled. “It was very easy. We’d meet with him to give him information, he’d let us know what we needed to do and we’d go do it.”
“I’ve known attorneys to be blunt. They want to get things done quickly because their time is so valuable. But the attorneys with Legal Aid were not like that. When I arrived, they started light. They made jokes and they were so positive.”
Due to complexities, Gloria’s case engaged four Legal Aid attorneys from multiple areas of practice and took more than eight years to resolve. For all involved, it was a rewarding exercise in perseverance. “I’m convinced Legal Aid attorneys work from their hearts.”
“Things changed so fast when I got a lawyer — well, if you wear a hijab, they don’t even give you time to talk. I told them, that’s not how you talk to people, you need to treat everyone the same. But once the lawyer talked to them, they said, okay, you can move.”
A friend asked to stay in his home for a week. Then COVID happened and David became an unintentional landlord who couldn’t get his visitor, turned tenant, to leave.
As a former social services worker, Trina knew her rights, yet she was denied the benefit of a live-in PCA. When that happened, she told them she would get an attorney to represent her. That’s when Legal Aid stepped in.
“I was getting medical treatment for a bad leg, but I was in there (a nursing home) a long time. What they were doing for me wasn’t different than what could be done at home. I’d rather be at home…but they wouldn’t let me go.”
“If someone using disability services makes a wrong move, they can be cut off or might owe thousands of dollars in an overpayment,” warns Attorney Anne Robertson. In the case of college student James Lee, that might have kept his college degree out of reach.
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