ATTACHMENT 4 - Laserfiche WebLink

8/9/23, 3:41 PM Fair and Secure Housing Project https://www.zoomgrants.com/rapp2.asp?rfpid=3776&propid=380588&dtype=official&ftype=&f=7/10 wave hits, after County moratorium protections end. Lastly, Centro Legal continues to build out a comprehensive toolbox of Know Your Rights materials and pro per packets to educate and empower tenants to assert their rights and take the steps necessary to preserve their housing. These materials include a security deposit demand letter, a letter to dispute an illegal lock-out, a pro per packet on how to complete an Unlawful Detainer answer, and many more. Report 2 Throughout this contract, 22 low-income Pleasanton tenants clients received legal consultation and 2 received full-scope representation. Two additional legal representation cases are ongoing and will not be reported until they are closed. We exceeded our consult goal by 122%. These consultations were critical because these consultations educated tenants on their rights and helped them feel secure in asserting their rights and staying in their homes in the face of often illegal eviction threats from landlords. These consultations also helped educate tenants on the eviction process. Also, we were able to complete 2 of the 9 legal representation cases that we had aimed for. Both of these cases were extremely complex, taking approximately 16 hours of attorney time to complete each, and both ended with successful outcomes. In one case, our attorney worked with a tenant living in a tax credit unit for over a year to help her recertify her income and maintain her subsidy. In another case, our attorney got a tenant an additional five months to move out after he received an Ellis Act eviction, which is a type of eviction that leaves tenants with very few options. Moreover, we have laid the groundwork for a trusting relationship with Pleasanton tenants. We have invested in community partnerships. We utilized our quarterly check-ins with the Tri-Valley cities and other partners to educate city staff and community-based organizations on tenant’s rights so that they can provide triage support and can quickly connect tenants to Centro. We also have held “Train the Trainer” presentations with La Familia to educate them on how to support tenants and get them connected to Centro. We also collaborate with ECHO Housing to ensure that tenants get connected to the help they need. These relationships will be critical in ensuring that we can connect with tenants and serve as many tenants as possible once the impending eviction wave fully hits. 13. Describe how the project/program is addressing the critical human services needs in the "City of Pleasanton Human Services Strategic Plan Needs Assessment Update 2018-2022". Report 1 Our project directly addresses the critical human service need under “Homelessness in the Tri-Valley” by providing homelessness prevention services in the form of: 1) assisting families near eviction, including representing them in eviction proceedings; and 2) educating tenants on their rights, so that they can avoid displacement and homelessness, and instead maintain their housing. Centro Legal fields hundreds of calls and emails per week from Alameda County tenants who cannot pay their rent and/or otherwise fear eviction. Families are preemptively moving into their cars because they cannot pay rent and are unaware of their protections. Tenants are also being harassed out of their homes. This project is designed to strategically target low-income tenants most at risk of displacement. Research shows that low- income residents who have the right to stay in their homes need legal representation in order to make that right a reality. As Professor Desmond noted in his book, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City (2016), “A program that ran from 2005-2008 in the South Bronx provided more than 1,300 families with legal assistance and prevented eviction in 86% of cases.” In addition, preservation of an affordable tenancy for a low-income resident saves public spending on the production of more affordable housing and homelessness services (Flaming, Daniel John and Toros, Halil and Burns, Patrick. 2015). Additionally, our project empowers low-income tenants with knowledge about their legal rights so that they push back against unlawful eviction efforts and remain housed. This project expands access to low-income tenants at risk of