We are excited to announce the Law Center for Better Housing was awarded $400,000 over two years from the Wells Fargo Foundation (Wells Fargo) to support our integrated legal and supportive services aimed at defending against and preventing evictions for lower-income renters in Chicago.
Wells Fargo’s continued funding allows LCBH to reach more renters facing eviction through high-quality eviction defense, such as landlord negotiation, longer-term housing stability services, like emergency rental assistance, and community outreach. LCBH will also use funds to continue developing and deploying our online Rentervention program that helps keep renters stably housed through a combination of chatbot and live assistance.
“LCBH is honored to receive funding from the Wells Fargo Foundation for a second time. Their support helps us further our goal of being the place for housing and eviction help, data, policy, and impact,” Mark Swartz, Executive Director at LCBH, said. “We couldn’t support our community the way we do without their continued generosity.”
LCBH is now poised to serve more Chicago renters than ever before. We were recently awarded a contract from the City of Chicago to lead a 3-year city-wide Right to Counsel Pilot Program, which will serve as a model for a permanent right to legal counsel system for all eligible low-income renters in eviction court. With Wells Fargo’s generous support, LCBH can expand the scope of our work to reach the growing number of renters in need of our legal and supportive services. We believe increasing our service and outreach capabilities will allow us to prevent more evictions for the Chicagoans most impacted by housing unaffordability and make Chicago a more equitable place to call home.