Blog: Building / Apartment Conditions

LBCH welcomes Katilin Cutshaw, an Indiana University Maurer School of Law graduate and alum of Teach for America (TFA), as an Equal Justice Works (EJW) Fellow.

During her TFA training, Kaitlin explored the historical causes of student achievement gaps, with access to housing as an important contributing factor. Her efforts as a LCBH law student volunteer further connected those dots.

"My understanding of student displacement and how it disrupts a child’s education solidified here at LCBH," Kaitlin shares.

With the help of our staff, she created her EJW project proposal to develop a school-based clinic that offers housing-focused legal aid with the help of pro bono volunteers.

Kaitlin hopes to reach out to schools in the Austin and South Shore neighborhoods, two areas of Chicago with high rates of eviction as well as rising housing costs, although any school with high risk of student displacement would be a potential candidate.

LCBH is proud to announce our new upcoming project, Rentervention, in partnership with Illinois Legal Aid Online (ILAO) and Lawyers Trust Fund (LTF)!

Rentervention is a chatbot service that will offer support to low-income tenants in unsubsidized Chicago housing dealing with conditions issues, eviction, and security deposit disputes. Tenants will be able to access help 24/7 though either a website or by texting. When appropriate, the chatbot will refer tenants to a free lawyer providing limited scope support through Rentervention’s Virtual Clinic.

Conor Malloy joined our team in December last year as the project director of Rentervention. In this role, he develops content for pro bono attorneys, creates scripts for the chat interface, and trains pro bono attorneys. Conor is excited to lead this pilot project in utilizing technology to easily provide legal guidance to those most in need.

Rentervention will go live on May 1, and a public awareness campaign will help promote the project to renters throughout Chicago over the summer.

John is a young disabled man who has had asthma all of his life. John is unable to work and he lives on very limited resources and income from Social Security. John recently moved into a new apartment and every time there was a heavy rain, his apartment would flood. As a result, mold was visible on his living room walls and kitchen cabinets, which he would scrub with soap to remove the mold. John documented the damage and contacted his property manager every time it happened. The property manager tried to address the flooding issues with various repairs, but the mold continued to come back.

While seeing his doctor for something unrelated, John mentioned he had some difficulty breathing in his home sometimes. During his examination, the issue of the re-occurring mold came up. Because mold spores can trigger asthma symptoms in sensitive individuals, the doctor was concerned that John’s housing situation may be the cause.

Luckily for John, his doctor works for PCC Community Wellness Center – a medical partner of Healthy Housing Chicago – a medical-legal partnership between LCBH, Loretto Hospital and PCC. The program is a bridge for patients to connect them to legal services, because health issues can be caused or exacerbated by unsafe housing conditions.

During her annual checkup, Shannon’s doctor asked whether she was experiencing any stress. Shannon explained she was very stressed because the property manager at her building would not accept her rent, and she had received a five-day notice threatening to evict her from her apartment. Shannon’s doctor explained that they had a lawyer onsite and that maybe this lawyer could help her situation.

The lawyer that the doctor was referring to is from Healthy Housing Chicago. Last year, LCBH embarked on a new project with Loretto Hospital and PCC Community Wellness Center to develop a medical-legal partnership known as Healthy Housing Chicago. Located in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, the hospital and adjacent clinic strive to meet the healthcare needs of low-income families in the community. The primary goal of Healthy Housing Chicago is to integrate legal services into a patient’s treatment plan to both improve their overall health outcomes, as well as their housing.

After the doctor’s appointment, Shannon walked down the hall to meet with the lawyer. Upon speaking with the LCBH attorney, Shannon learned that the landlord was required to accept the rent within the five-day notice period, and that if paid, the landlord could not continue with the eviction. The LCBH attorney told Shannon to try to pay the rent again, but to properly document the refusal, to protect herself from an eviction.