Executive Director’s Message
In September 1929 the Legal Aid Clinic, our predecessor, opened its doors in the Law School building at the University of Southern California. This year, LAFLA will celebrate 80 years of legal service and advocacy for poor and low-income clients throughout Los Angeles County. We started with a handful of attorneys serving a few hundred clients. But today, we are one of the largest public interest law firms in the country with a culturally diverse team of more than 160 attorneys, paralegals and support staff fluent in more than 20 languages. We've become a steadfast advocate for clients facing eviction, home foreclosure, job loss, immigration issues, domestic violence, loss of government benefits, and disenfranchised communities seeking greater economic opportunities. In September 2009, LAFLA will hold its 80th Anniversary Symposium at Town and Gown, USC Gould School of Law to celebrate our legacy. Please look for more detailed information in the near future.

Silvia Argueta, Interim Executive Director

articles

LAFLA Provides Voice for Foster Youth Facing Disciplinary Problems
By Sharon Balmer, LAFLA Attorney and Bingham McCutchen Fellow
In Los Angeles County, 40 to 60 percent of foster youth drop out of school mainly because of disciplinary issues. In our Government Benefits Unit, advocates work diligently to represent these children who are most vulnerable because they’ve been removed from their home and must rely on foster parents or social workers to advocate on their behalf.

Andy’s Story
Due to a turbulent home environment where he was beaten and his sister molested, Andy began using drugs at the age of 12. At school, he was caught sniffing air freshener and was pulled out of class, searched, and asked to write a statement admitting to drug use on school property. His school recommended expulsion from the school district. As a LAFLA attorney, I represent students at their expulsion hearings, in pre-expulsion conferences and in re-admission hearings after expulsion. My role is to ensure that schools follow the procedures outlined in California law, which requires that expulsion be imposed for only the worst offenses. Although many young clients come to LAFLA from the general client population, others like Andy are referred through the Dependency Court.

When children are suspended or expelled from school their education progress is permanently derailed. They are more likely to drop out, commit a crime or be incarcerated as adults. And the rates of suspension and expulsion are increasing among poor and minority students. This trend has attracted national attention and is commonly referred to as the “School-to-Prison Pipeline.” In Andy’s case, although the hearing panel found that he had committed an expellable offense, he was able to avoid expulsion because other means of correction were working. Today, Andy is back at school, and although he still dealing with many grown-up issues, he now has the continued support of his school community and is progressing well academically.

Santa Monica Office Collaborates with Local Agency to Represent Disabled Client
Clients who are mentally ill or disabled can experience increased discrimination at the hands of landlords and property owners. LAFLA attorneys often work quickly to resolve these cases and to prevent additional trauma to the clients.

Jimmy’s Story
Jimmy, a paranoid schizophrenic with a Section 8 voucher, has been living in a studio apartment in Santa Monica for 11 years. He has both physical and mental disabilities. As a result, the manager of his building dislikes him, and claims Jimmy is a nuisance when he knocks on the landlord’s door for assistance, or is unable to immediately pick up small objects he drops in the hallway because of the loss of mobility in his hands. In an effort to evict him, the building manager issued a three-day notice to quit because he burned his dinner and the smell was offensive. The manager also terminated his Section 8 contract with the Santa Monica Housing Authority. Under the Section 8 voucher program, individuals or families with a voucher find and lease an apartment and only pay a portion of the rent (based on income, but generally no more than 30 percent of the family's income). The Public Housing Authority pays the landlord the remainder of the rent, subject to a cap referred to as "Fair Market Rent" (FMR) which is determined by HUD.

On Jimmy's behalf, LAFLA attorney Minty Siu-Kootnikoff asserted that Jimmy deserved a reasonable accommodation for his disabilities under state and federal Fair Housing Laws. Although the landlord offered to revoke the three- day notice to quit, he refused to re-instate Jimmy's contract with the Housing Authority, which would have been necessary to allow Jimmy to remain in his apartment. The landlord would have collected more in market-rate rent than if he had accepted the Section 8 voucher. However, it would have been an insurmountable financial burden to Jimmy because he would have to pay the market rate on his own versus his small share with Section 8. This further illustrated the continuing discrimination at the hands of his landlord.

LAFLA teamed up with the Housing Rights Center (HRC), a non-profit organization dedicated to fair housing rights for disabled tenants and others. Working with HRC, affirmative litigation preparation and discovery began and a demand letter was generated to the landlord insisting that Jimmy's Housing Authority contract be re-instated. A week later, the landlord wrote to the Santa Monica Housing Authority requesting a new contract for Jimmy.

BFI Group Helps to Improve Financial Services for Clients
By Dorothy Herrera Settlage
Low income communities often lack adequate banking, financial and insurance services. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, traditional banks abandoned low-income neighborhoods and were replaced by check cashing services. In addition, insurance "redlining" has been prevalent in these neighborhoods and spurred by the absence of traditional banking services, new and dubious loan products have developed such as payday loans, subprime and predatory loans, tax refund loans, and other practices that target and exploit poor and low-income people.

Furthermore, the commitment by large financial services entities to invest in low-income communities as required by the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) has also eroded. In response, LAFLA attorneys in the Consumer, Community Economic Development, Employment, and Government Benefits Units formed the Banking, Finance and Insurance Working Group (BFI) to develop and improve banking, financial and insurance services for LAFLA clients.

In addition to the development of a Quarterly Report distributed to staff, Board, Client Councils and community partners, the BFI Group also provides input on state legislative and regulatory changes for automobile and other insurance laws; has developed an inner city bank services for veterans; and played an active role in the implementation of the Electronic Benefit Transfer Program. Members also have partnered with the California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC) in holding banks accountable for meeting their CRC obligations. For more information about the Group, please contact dherrera@lafla.org.

In the News

• Interim Executive Director Silvia Argueta was quoted in a December 23 Daily Journal article on titled: “Legal Services Groups Hit by Recession.” The article discussed the woes of private law firms and their affect on nonprofit legal aid organizations.
• As part of LAFLA's advocacy on behalf of renters and homeowners, we were invited to participate in a press conference held on December 19 at City hall by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti. Fernando Gaytan, an attorney in our Housing Unit, and pictured far left, attended the event. At the event, the Mayor signed into law a one-year ordinance extending rent control eviction protections to all rental properties throughout Los Angeles County. Under the new law, renters whose residences have been foreclosed cannot be evicted until the property is sold to a new owner. The new law will impact 300,000 apartment buildings and single-family homes. Eric Garcetti, President of the LA City Council authored the law and steered it through the City Council.