John called us after his house had been foreclosed due to a tax lien, and he had an eviction pending against him by the town. He lived in the house with his wife and adult child who has disabilities. He had recently paid off the mortgage. John missed a tax payment after he became unable to work for a period of time. Despite his best efforts, his bid on the property at public sale was rejected due to technicalities. One of our Staff Attorneys pressured the town into accepting John's initial bid through letters, phone calls, the recruitment of a state senator, and participation in a Selectpersons' Board meeting. Our Attorney also got the eviction dismissed. If John had not had the help of an attorney, John and his wife and their adult child with disabilities would have been forced out of their home of 30 years.
Sue decided to rent out part of her small home to bring in money for the mortgage. She met a woman who needed housing, and thought she could trust her. But then it all went wrong. Very wrong. Instead of moving in by herself, as the renter promised, she brought three other people. The four of them were cruel, mocking and insulting to Sue. Then it got even worse. The four of them pushed Sue out of her room, to the three-season porch, telling her the porch was the only part of the house she could be in. They trashed the house and damaged her things. Sue felt like a hostage in her own home. Without help, Sue was all alone. In a place that was literally cold and dark. If Sue had not had the help of an attorney, Sue would have been forced to choose between continuing to live in unsafe conditions for the indefinite future or trying to find alternative housing.
When Julie called us, she had just learned that the town code enforcement officer was going to post her home as condemned at the end of the week. The home was unsafe, but Julie had no place to go. In addition, Julie was in desperate need of surgery, but her medical providers would not do the surgery until she had secured safe housing. Julie was over the age of 80 and completely overwhelmed by the situation. As this was happening, everything had just shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of our Staff Attorneys reached out to the town and convinced them to delay the condemnation until Julie secured safe housing. Because of the pandemic, emergency housing was unavailable. Our Attorney worked with several partner agencies to search for alternative housing, and eventually Julie secured a safe place to go, and she was able to receive the surgery she so desperately needed. Julie would have become homeless in the midst of the pandemic if she had not had the help of an attorney.
