COURT WATCH: The Real People in the Eviction Statistics
Historic Greene County Courthouse in Springfield, MO.
By Kbh3rd - Own work, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44434168
STUN has been conducting an eviction case court watch for the past few months.
Something I don’t take lightly and feel obligated to share, to impress upon anyone I meet, the need for Right To Council. Seldom do tenants get an opportunity to humanize themselves and their situation in this situation. But two stories in particular stand out to me in my time of personally observing this process.
The first of which is all too common and a reality many of us in this current economic climate are aware of and looms over our heads: the struggle of living paycheck to paycheck only to come up short and fall behind as your employer feels the need to make cutbacks and issue layoffs. This young woman, who surely had no time or energy to allow such a dreaded event weigh upon her conscience while being ground by the grind, got laid off and was without work for two months. While no doubt frantically looking for a job and stretching every penny, she was issued an eviction notice around the time she finally got a job.
She communicated this in desperation in court to the judge who presented her no other option but to sign a paper promising to vacate her current residence in a week, and pay what she still owed as well as the court costs and attorney fees of the lawyer representing the landlord putting her out of a home. She asked if there was anyway she could undo this current situation, because she now has acquired the funds to pay the late rent, fees and rent going forward as it was before her unfortunate loss of employment. At this point the attorney offered to speak with her in the hallway - one would hope to the satisfaction of the tenant, but we may never know. She may have ended up without a home and a mark on her record going forward as she tries to get a new place and retain her new job.
The second story I witnessed was even more harrowing. A middle aged woman who has been working for a long time to provide for her family. A mother who as of ten years prior had to bear the weight of sole provider upon tragically losing her husband and the father of her children to murder. Most recently to add to a dwindling safety net, she lost her father who had been helping from time to time. Widowed, orphaned and trying to keep what she described was the most stable situation her family had yet to have, she fell behind and received an eviction notice from her landlord. Between providing food for herself and her children, working while trying to find consistent childcare and ensure her family had some sort of normal, she desperately reached out to her sister who fortunately could extend to her the funds she needed.
Who knows how that affected her sister’s housing situation and the relationship between the two of them. But it unfortunately was too little too late due to a technicality. She had the money she needed but the funds were held up in limbo while they were being transferred to her bank account. Rather than be bothered to work with the tenant directly, the landlord transferred the problem to the eviction courts. That ain’t right!
Right To Counsel would hopefully encourage landlords to work more with tenants before taking things to a long and drawn out eviction process that would cost all involved time and money, and not just the tenant. That would force them to have some mercy and understanding. Not just use up the tenant as a speed bump and distraction from their profits. Because these are not merely wells of income for landlords to exploit. These are people who deserve help and deserve a safe place to live. That is why we are continuing to fight for a Right To Counsel, to make sure everyone has access to the protection they deserve!