ARKANSAS IOLTA FOUNDATION 1300 West 6 th Street, Room 113 Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 (501) 682-9415 (direct dial) (501) 682-9421 (facsimile) FORM A: QUARTERLY PROGRESS REPORT HOUSING FORECLOSURE SETTLEMENT FUND GRANTEE: Legal Aid of Arkansas AMOUNT: $60,753.51 GRANT PERIOD: 1/1/2014 to 3/31/2014 REPORT PERIOD: 2nd Quarter REPORT SUBMISSION DATE: April 4, 2014 1. Please provide a narrative description of project-related activities that your program has undertaken this reporting period in furtherance of the overall project goal as well as the specific objectives identified in your original project proposal (e.g., project planning, advocate training, consumer education, outreach, coordination with other service providers, development/adaptation of intake/screening processes, project-related pro bono attorney involvement). Where possible, provide supporting data or other information that you used to evaluate your progress toward achieving the identified objectives. Copies of other supporting materials (e.g., coordination plans, training materials, client education materials, MOUs) should be provided as well. We held a joint meeting with the national ACLU and the Center for Arkansas Legal Services concerning possible strategies for attacking criminal eviction and this project continues to be planned and considered. We are making good use of pro bono assets for project related cases, with approximately 64 cases within the purview of our Access to Safe and Affordable Housing Work Group being assigned to PAI attorneys. The vast majority of these cases are related to wills and estates of low income individuals. By having the ability to send most of these cases out pro bono, with the case many times having a direct nexus to a client’s housing or ability to access and maintain housing, we are able to focus staff resources more directly on traditional housing matters. We have focused more on Fair Housing issues and discrimination this quarter, sending two attorneys to a regional training in Tennessee, then conducting our own internal fair housing training for the staff of both Legal Aid of Arkansas and the Center for Arkansas Legal Services. We are now starting to identify and accept fair housing cases. All of our housing attorneys also attended training on Non-Judicial Foreclosure in Arkansas. We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to provide fair housing training to the staff and tenants of the Public Housing department of the third largest city in the service area. We continue developing strategies to implement the mediation grant we were awarded for the Arkansas Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission, and have signed up over 40 mediators to participate on this panel where they will agree to mediate landlord tenant disputes for $50 an hour for up to four hours. The MOU with the Jonesboro Housing Authority and an Outline of the Fair Housing
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ARKANSAS IOLTA FOUNDATION
1300 West 6th
Street, Room 113
Little Rock, Arkansas 72201
(501) 682-9415 (direct dial)
(501) 682-9421 (facsimile)
FORM A: QUARTERLY PROGRESS REPORT
HOUSING FORECLOSURE SETTLEMENT FUND
GRANTEE: Legal Aid of Arkansas AMOUNT: $60,753.51
GRANT PERIOD: 1/1/2014 to 3/31/2014 REPORT PERIOD: 2nd Quarter
REPORT SUBMISSION DATE: April 4, 2014
1. Please provide a narrative description of project-related activities that your program has
undertaken this reporting period in furtherance of the overall project goal as well as the specific
objectives identified in your original project proposal (e.g., project planning, advocate training,
consumer education, outreach, coordination with other service providers,
development/adaptation of intake/screening processes, project-related pro bono attorney
involvement). Where possible, provide supporting data or other information that you used to
evaluate your progress toward achieving the identified objectives. Copies of other supporting
materials (e.g., coordination plans, training materials, client education materials, MOUs) should
be provided as well.
We held a joint meeting with the national ACLU and the Center for Arkansas Legal Services
concerning possible strategies for attacking criminal eviction and this project continues to be
planned and considered. We are making good use of pro bono assets for project related cases,
with approximately 64 cases within the purview of our Access to Safe and Affordable Housing
Work Group being assigned to PAI attorneys. The vast majority of these cases are related to
wills and estates of low income individuals. By having the ability to send most of these cases out
pro bono, with the case many times having a direct nexus to a client’s housing or ability to
access and maintain housing, we are able to focus staff resources more directly on traditional
housing matters. We have focused more on Fair Housing issues and discrimination this quarter,
sending two attorneys to a regional training in Tennessee, then conducting our own internal fair
housing training for the staff of both Legal Aid of Arkansas and the Center for Arkansas Legal
Services. We are now starting to identify and accept fair housing cases. All of our housing
attorneys also attended training on Non-Judicial Foreclosure in Arkansas. We have signed a
Memorandum of Understanding to provide fair housing training to the staff and tenants of the
Public Housing department of the third largest city in the service area. We continue developing
strategies to implement the mediation grant we were awarded for the Arkansas Alternative
Dispute Resolution Commission, and have signed up over 40 mediators to participate on this
panel where they will agree to mediate landlord tenant disputes for $50 an hour for up to four
hours. The MOU with the Jonesboro Housing Authority and an Outline of the Fair Housing
Training Presented are attached.
2. Please provide available case data for the reporting period for project-related problem
codes, including cases opened, pending, and closed; level of service provided; case outcomes;
and total hours of project-related staff time. CSR reports and timekeeping reports may be
provided in lieu of a narrative summary.
Attached please find attached the following documents reflecting case activating using
this funding from 1/1/2014-3/31/2014:
I.Case Statistical Report (124 cases closed)
II.Time Summary By Advocate (2,157.00 total hours)
III.List of Cases Closed (names redacted)
IV.List of Pending Cases (145 cases pending) (names redacted)
V.List of four client stories
3. Identify any significant problem areas that you identified during the reporting period and
describe how these problems were addressed.
We identified some fair housing related issues in that disabled tenants in certain locations were
unable to get out and pay their rent during the ice storms, the landlords of the apartment
complexes did not provide ice removal, and as a result had eviction actions brought against them.
We are currently litigating one of these cases as a fair housing claim.
Legal Aid of Arkansas
Housing Foreclosure Settlement Fund
1/1/2014 to 3/31/2014
1. The client and his family moved to Arkansas and purchased a home for $177,000.00
with a down payment of $5,000.00. Once they moved into the home they discovered major
problems with the house that had not been previously disclosed. The clients came to LAA for
assistance in getting out of the contract. Through discovery and negotiations LAA was able to
reach a mutual termination of the contract and clients were able to walk away from the bad
deal. The client was assisted by Staff Attorney Jon Comstock.
2. Client and her husband had an agreement to buy a home. They moved in, paid taxes
and insurance, and made substantial improvements. However, when the husband lost his job
he lost his job he was given an eviction notice, and they lost the money that they invested in
the home. Legal Aid filed a lawsuit and obtained injunctive relief on behalf of the clients to
keep the home from being sold, and then through the use of a mediator, was able to reach a
monetary settlement of $18,000 which allowed the family to relocate to another residence.
3. Our clients, while living outside of Arkansas, signed a Contract to Purchase Real Estate
to buy a house and property for $177,000.00, with a down payment of $5,000.00. Once they
moved to Arkansas and into the house they discovered that it had major deficiencies which
were not disclosed. Their request was to "get them out of the contract." The owners denied
the payment of $5,000.00 (which funds had been paid to Owner's agent, but who absconded
with the money). Without filing a lawsuit, but with lots of informal discovery, we were able to
achieve a resolution of "mutual termination of the contract". However, the owner then
demanded over $8,000.00 "property damages" after our clients moved out of property. Again,
after negotiation, the case was resolved without any payment by our clients other than to
reimburse owner for a water bill.
4. Legal Aid accepted this case to help the clients to get out of an apartment that had
visible mold on the carpet and there were huge holes in the yard. In addition, the client has an
autistic grandchild and the actions of the manager toward the child cause the child to regress at
school and at home. The management filed a complaint in unlawful detainer and a notice of
writ of possession. Through negotiation we were able to gain sufficient time for the clients to
find other accommodations and get moved, as well as obtain a dismissal with prejudice.
However after the case was dismissed, the apartment complex sent the client’s account to
collections. Working on the client's behalf over the course of several months we obtained
written confirmation from the collection agency that the collection attempt had been in error
and that no detrimental information had been reported to any credit agency.
Staff Time on Housing Foreclosure Grant from January 1, 2014 to March 31, 2014
....
6.75 ... ·······
:.· .. }·,:.:;:;:·: .. ,··: ...
Case Related Interview 5- Time Slips 1.50: Case Related Phone Call 16 - Time Slips Case Related D Leiter Writing 3 - Time Slips
1034 14.00: ..
Interview 4 - Time Slips 2.50! B Phone Call 9 - Time Slips 2.25: c Negotiation 4 - Time Slips : 1.25:
.,=.·A>> ,:· Case Related D Leiter Writing 9 - Time Slips 3.251 A Case Related I Investigation 5 - Time Slips 1.25' A Case Related M Miscellaneous 2-Time Slips o.50j
.· A ,· Case Related N Other 4 - Time Slips 1.001
,,,,,,,_A _',:} Case Related 0 DocumenUPleading 2 - Time Slips -~
0.751 :::; A·. Case Related T Travel 3 - Time Slips -~
2.25 ..
5 - Time Slips 1.25
4 - Time Slips 1.00 ... . · .. ·.···.···
9.25
4-Time Slips 1.251 H Court Appearance 3~
3.501
1.00
3.75
1.50
..... .. ·., ... \:
Interview 2 - Time Slips 0.75 ----l
Phone Call ADFA 20 - Time Slips 9.25i D Leiter Writing ADFA 13 - Time Slips 8.0~
: / A:/? Case Related · : A . · · Case Related
;: }A )? Case Related . :} A• -. .. Case Related E Legal Research ADFA 4 - Time Slips I 7.25'
:A Case Related
F Discovery ADFA 4 - Time Slips · 4.50;
H Court Appearance ADFA 1 - Time Slips 6Tsj ·. ' A . ·. Case Related
. . A: Case Related I Investigation ADFA 2-Time Slips 4.25'. · A ·· .. Case Related M Miscellaneous ADFA 6 - Time Slips 1 8.751
A Case Related N Other ADFA 5 - Time Slips 2.751
··,.: A Case Related 0 DocumenUPleading ADFA 5 - Time Slips 4.251