"Where a white legal professional might see stats, I see people. Because, after all, the systemic issues that affect my clients have also affected me."
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After five years of homelessness, our Advocate finally managed to get her very elderly client approved for an affordable housing building after convincing a prosecutor to defer prosecution on his felony charge. Though she secured him a subsidized apartment, she found out in the height of the pandemic that his landlord was moving to evict him. Her client was unable to see well enough to read, and had no idea what the notice on his door said. Returning to homelessness would be lethal for him given that he is over 70 and in fragile health. But the PFJ Advocate worked with the property manager, gathered advice from local housing lawyers about client’s rights under HUD and disability law, documented every aspect of her client’s vulnerability, including cardiac and respiratory conditions, and even convinced a local pastor to get on her client’s team and help. Not only did she stop her client from losing his housing, she convinced the property manager to continue keeping the Advocate in the loop on all correspondence about the property, given her client’s near blindness.
