Loisann's Hope House and Legal Aid Works Eviction Prevention Pilot Program Starting Today
The program will focus on Spotsylvania County families facing eviction, but the hope is that it can grow to serve the entire Fredericksburg region.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
Email Adele
During the last two weeks of June last year, there were 52 eviction hearings scheduled in Spotsylvania General District Court.
During the same period this year, there were 139 hearings scheduled—a 167% increase.
A new pilot program that launches tomorrow aims to prevent at least a handful of the increasing number of low-income Spotsylvania families who are the defendants in these hearings from being branded with what Ann Kloeckner, executive director of Legal Aid Works, calls “the Scarlet E”—eviction.
“If we look at issues like homelessness and affordable housing, evictions are the one through-line,” Kloeckner said. “The snowball effect is so profound.”
The majority of families who come into Loisann’s Hope House, the area’s largest homeless shelter, have evictions on their record, said Cait Woodward, Hope House’s executive director.
Legal Aid Works and Hope House are partnering to launch an eviction prevention pilot program focusing on Spotsylvania County, which has the highest rates of eviction in the Fredericksburg area.
The program is funded by a $20,000 grant for prevention that Hope House has received for the past few years from the Mary Washington Hospital Foundation.
Woodward and Kloeckner are both members of the Fredericksburg Regional Continuum of Care’s Evictions Working Group.
Last year, the CoC applied for funding from the statewide Evictions Reduction program to establish a regional program. The application was unsuccessful, because statewide funding is targeted for parts of Virginia like Richmond, Hampton, and Newport News that have some of the highest eviction rates in the country.
But Woodward decided not to let that be a deterrent. She decided to scale down the proposal to focus only on Spotsylvania County and arranged with the hospital foundation to apply the $20,000 grant to the micro pilot program.
Potential clients can be referred to the program either by calling the Homeless Helpline (540-358-5801), which Hope House operates, or by connecting with Legal Aid Works, both of which are already among the first places families in need of help think to go.
If the family qualifies for assistance from Legal Aid Works and is located in Spotsylvania, the organization’s attorneys will take a closer look at the case to see whether there’s a legal defense to bring up in court.
“Often, there is a defense that not even the courts know about,” Kloeckner said.
If the only issue is nonpayment of rent, and if the amount owed is relatively small, Legal Aid Works will transfer the case to Hope House.
“We could easily spend $20,000 on just three families,” Woodward said. “So we are focusing on the population that will stabilize with a low balance.”
Woodward said the goal is to assist 30 families, which averages to about $600 per family, but it’s not unheard of for an eviction to be based on a past-due amount that’s much smaller. Kloeckner said she’s seen an eviction where the amount owed was just $8.
“But that $8 might as well have been $8,000 [for this tenant],” she said.
Hope House staff will work with the landlord to pay the outstanding rent and then provide wraparound case management to the tenant to ensure the situation stabilizes.
Woodward said she’s found through Hope House’s existing work in homeless prevention that if the support network kicks in before the family loses its home, the situation stabilizes “within about three months.”
“But we find that when a family goes into a shelter, once they make it out it’s one-to-two years before they stabilize,” she said.
The pilot program will be operated by the existing staff of Legal Aid Works and Hope House.
“It’s what we do all day, every day,” Kloeckner said.
But if the program is successful, she and Woodward hope it will grow and that it will prevent families throughout the Fredericksburg area from having to enter the “unbelievable mill” of eviction court and face the “snowballing” effects of a judgement against them.
Support the Advance with an Annual Subscription or Make a One-time Donation
The Advance has developed a reputation for fearless journalism. Our team delivers well-researched local stories, detailed analysis of the events that are shaping our region, and a forum for robust, informed discussion about current issues.
We need your help to do this work, and there are two ways you can support this work.
Sign up for annual, renewable subscription.
Make a one-time donation of any amount.
Local Obituaries
To view local obituaries or to send a note to family and loved ones, please visit the link that follows.
This article is published under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. It can be distributed for noncommercial purposes and must include the following: “Published with permission by FXBG Advance.”