ST. LOUIS 鈥 Robyn Swinney came to eviction court Wednesday, the case against her daunting.
Her South Side apartment manager said police had found drug paraphernalia in her unit, in violation of her lease.
She said they had it wrong, that she picked up the vials on the nearby playground so her kids wouldn鈥檛 鈥 something she said management would know that if it ever did anything about the drug dealing there. She was indignant. She wanted to fight, but didn鈥檛 know how.
鈥淗ow would I do that?鈥 she asked.
For decades, most low-income tenants facing the loss of their homes have entered 狐狸视频 courtrooms absent a key ingredient in any successful defense: an attorney to present it. Up against landlords rarely without counsel, the renters almost always lose, if they even show up at all. And then they鈥檙e out on the street, too often with children in tow and a black mark on their record.
People are also reading…
Now, City Hall wants to intervene. Aldermen, backed by Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, are working on a plan to pay for lawyers for city renters facing eviction. Seeded with $685,000 in federal pandemic aid, their new program would contract with nonprofits, law firms and other organizations to try and cover thousands of cases each year.
The plan is up for first-round approval at Friday鈥檚 board meeting.
It wouldn鈥檛 be the block on evictions that the pandemic-era moratorium was. And it wouldn鈥檛 pay rent for tenants who can鈥檛.
But supporters say it could still make a big difference.
Lawyers for tenants could examine filings for errors and weaknesses, and negotiate with landlords鈥 attorneys peer-to-peer. If a tenant is withholding rent because there are rats in the apartment and the toilet doesn鈥檛 flush, they might be able to work out a deal to get things fixed. And if they can鈥檛 prevent an eviction, they can negotiate for more time for tenants to move their things out, and file paperwork to keep the eviction off of their record.
鈥淭his is a good first step in leveling the playing field,鈥 said Aldermanic President Megan Green.
The right to an attorney is a familiar concept in American law.
How it started
Sixty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution鈥檚 promise of a fair trial could not be realized if poor people charged with crimes had to face their accusers without counsel. But the court has since declined to expand that right to most civil matters.
Still, over the past few years, spiking rents, housing shortages and the upheaval of the pandemic have fueled a growing movement in cities to get lawyers for renters facing eviction.
It began in some of the country鈥檚 largest, most expensive cities.
Leaders in New York City in early 2017. The next year, voters in San Francisco went one further, approving a ballot measure , regardless of income.
Then the pandemic hit. Eviction bans and heaps of federal rental assistance staved off immediate catastrophe. But rising inflation and widespread concerns of a coming 鈥漷sunami鈥 of evictions supercharged the movement for tenant鈥檚 rights.
Nearly a dozen more cities 鈥 from pricey, fast-growing Seattle and Denver to more humble locales such as Louisville, Kentucky and Kansas City 鈥 joined the bandwagon over the next few years.
In 狐狸视频, rents have been rising modestly for the past few years, though rent growth has lagged behind the rest of the country.
But studies have been calling out a lack of affordable housing here for a while.
One study released in 2021 said more than three-quarters of 狐狸视频 and 狐狸视频 County鈥檚 poorest residents live in housing they struggle to afford.
鈥業t鈥檚 vulturous鈥
Alderwoman Shameem Clark Hubbard, of the West End, filed the legislation this month. It outlines specifically how the program would hire staff, contract out for attorneys and spread the word among tenants and landlords. It aims to start taking clients on July 1, 2024.
The plan envisions covering about 1,000 clients, at a cost of $1.3 million, in the first year, and growing each year thereafter. It hopes to serve 4,500 clients with 45 attorneys in 2028 at a cost of $5.1 million.
In a committee hearing last week, supporters said it can鈥檛 happen fast enough. They told aldermen that right now, there just isn鈥檛 enough help from nonprofit lawyers for everyone who needs it. They talked about how so many of those evicted are Black and female. And they talked about how those evictions make it harder for people to work, take care of children and live their lives without constant stress.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 an exaggeration to say that if we can establish and fully fund a right to counsel in St Louis, it will be life-saving,鈥 Molly Metzger, a senior lecturer at Washington University with a focus on affordable housing, told aldermen.
Tenants at eviction court this week downtown said that it would be nice to have a lawyer. Tammy Harrington, of Dutchtown, wanted to fight a case she said boiled down to $10 in unpaid water bills.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e just after my security deposit,鈥 she said.
And Jamell Spann, of Benton Park West, said he wished he had someone to talk to his landlord before he ended up in court, where his landlord鈥檚 attorney talked him into signing an agreement to pay an amount three-and-a-half times his monthly rent in less than five weeks.
He had no idea how he would pay off the amount, which included $400 in legal fees. And he noted with some amusement that even if he did, he would have to go back to court to get the eviction filing off his record.
鈥淚t鈥檚 vulturous,鈥 he said.
Landlords鈥 attorneys in the Civil Courts Building on Wednesday said they don鈥檛 have a problem with the bill 鈥 but it might not solve much.
In Judge David A. Roither鈥檚 courtroom, for example, a tenant was arguing her complex鈥檚 property manager was out to get her because they disagreed about pet fees.
Roither said that was beside the point. She hadn鈥檛 paid rent in months.
鈥淵our best protection,鈥 Roither told the woman, 鈥渨as just paying your rent.鈥