You’re not surprised, right? Need legal services? You might get through the screening if your problem is bad enough (losing your housing). I just get overwhelmed as the services shrink and the demand grows and agencies have no choice but to create these kinds of rules.
Legal Action’s Madison office housing law unit has decided to modify intake procedures due to staff and resource reductions and the large volume of intake calls we have been receiving. Unfortunately, we are unable to help everyone who needs our help. We need to regulate the volume of calls so we can competently serve those clients we are currently representing. As you know, we don’t really have administrative support staff so every intake call generates time, paperwork and processing that takes time away from us doing our other work.
First, we will no longer be taking intake calls (these have been primarily HPRP emergency eviction referrals) outside of the normal housing law intake hours. This means that all applicants for our services will need to go through our intake on Mondays or Tuesdays between 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. We will only take walk-ins during intake if the person does not have a telephone. We try to be here in person during intake hours, but often have to run to court or some other appointment.
Second, we have decided to screen out tenants who are experiencing maintenance problems with their unit (landlord fails to make repairs, etc.) if this dispute is: (1) with a current landlord and (2) there is no pending termination of tenancy or eviction process going on. We will still take these calls if the client is threatened with eviction (termination notice issued within the last 30 days or tenant is required to vacate within 30 days) or if the dispute is with a past landlord. The first category, evictions, we will obviously take because we prioritize these cases and the second, disputes with former landlords, including security deposit cases, are cases which we evaluate for referral to our Volunteer Lawyers Project (VLP). Callers with maintenance problems with a current landlord who are not faced with eviction, however, will be referred to appropriate government agencies and non-profits, like the Tenant Resource Center, to get further information regarding their rights. The fact is, we rarely, if ever, provide extended representation in these cases as there is little that we can do that they can’t do on their own (like call building inspection). Ultimately, if the tenant breaks their lease and moves and then gets sued by the landlord, the tenant can then call us and we will conduct an intake and evaluate for potential referral to the VLP. Or, if the tenant abates rent, or repairs and deducts, and gets an eviction notice, we will do an intake and evaluate for representation in the eviction proceedings. Please note, however, that if a potential client calls with a post move-out matter, which we would be evaluating for VLP referral, they will not be on the top of our intake “pile” as we have to prioritize eviction cases, but we will do our best to get back to them within 2 weeks of their contact with our office.
Of course, we are still available to discuss certain situations with your staff, etc., when they have particular questions or concerns. And, we are obviously still interested in hearing about systemic problems within the communities we serve and urgent situations impacting a large number of people (e.g. condemnation of a multi-unit building, etc.), so please don’t hesitate to call when you come across stuff like that. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Yep, this stinks. We now have less than 2 full time housing law attorneys to provide legal assistance to low income folks in 9 counties. There are just so many folks who need our help, but our state funding was just zeroed out, our federal stimulus money is gone and our federal funding, which is where we get almost all our funding, is going to get cut a little, a lot or somewhere in between.