CLA's Housing Court Update
The first quarter of 2023 has been one of the busiest and most exciting times in CLA’s history. You have probably noticed some new faces around the office and now, we have a new home. This past week, we moved into our new and bigger office space, located at 1816 Success Street in North Charleston. It's hard to believe that three years ago, we were a staff of four and now we are a staff of nine. Our growth would not be possible without the support and commitment from our community, donors and partners. Hopefully, the name of our new street is an indication of only good things to come.
In addition, this past quarter we have made significant progress in achieving our strategic goals of expanding our Housing program and expanding services to the LatinX community.
Over the years, CLA has prioritized its Housing program and has been working to confront the eviction crisis in the Low Country. In 2019, CLA and other local legal service providers helped launch the Charleston Housing Court Pilot Project. At Housing Court, unrepresented tenants are provided free legal counsel during their eviction hearings. However, Housing Court was initially limited to Charleston County. In 2022, CLA was selected as a host for the Equal Justice Works’ Housing Justice Program. This allowed CLA to hire an Attorney Fellow for a two-year fellowship to expand Housing Court to Berkeley and Dorchester Counties. In October 2022, CLA hired Taylor Rumble, our Equal Justice Fellow, to launch our Housing Court expansion, and in February 2022, we also hired Javonne Aikens, our Housing Court Coordinator to assist with the project.
With these new additions to the team, we are proud to announce that on March 13, 2023, CLA launched Berkeley County’s first Housing Court at Goose Creek Magistrate’s Office. We are grateful for our community partners and for Judge Deaton and his clerks for their support and patience in helping to get this vital project off the ground.
““My experience as an Equal Justice Works fellow has been enlightening. I knew the Tri-county area had a housing crisis but only through this fellowship position did I start to really see and comprehend the gravity of the situation. Not only is it hard to find housing here, it’s also hard to keep it. Landlords are not incentivized to work with tenants or maintain their properties in the best conditions when demand for units is so high. The expansion of Housing Court to Berkeley County allows the concerns of tenants in the community to be heard, provides them an understanding of their rights and legal process and protects vulnerable tenants from unlawful evictions.””
