Wednesday, September 1, 2010

The Better Angels of Our Nature


By: Michael Lucas, Staff Attorney, AVLF

Earlier this month, the East Point Housing Authority’s poor handling of the opening of their waiting list for subsidized housing vouchers attracted national media attention and much criticism. Estimates were that a crowd of 30,000 turned out, three times what the agency had originally anticipated. It has been reported that some sixty people required medical attention and twenty were transported to the hospital. 13,000 applications were handed out, but the housing agency director stressed that none of her agency's 455 housing aid vouchers was even available at that time.

While there is plenty to say about how the waiting list was handled, it is the desperation that this unfortunate East Point event laid bare which should concern us all. In that crowd—and across our city—there is palpable desperation. According to the most recent data, the unemployment rate in Fulton County is 10.8 percent. The national average is 9.5 percent. There were 13,130 foreclosure notices published in the 13-county Atlanta-metro region in August; skyrocketing 59 percent from July. The Fulton County eviction court is overflowing; with hundreds of evictions on the calendar every Tuesday and Thursday. And that is just Fulton County.

For many, these are desperate times. And like the disgraceful profiteering that sometimes occurs after a natural disaster, there are those who seek to take advantage of others’ desperation. Through AVLF’s various programs, we see this first-hand. We are seeing a rise in employers refusing to pay already-struggling employees their due wages, knowing that they will not risk quitting in this job market. We are seeing more slumlords forcing tenants to live under intolerable conditions, knowing they do not have the resources to leave or the hope of finding and affording another place to raise their children. The results include the recent rash of untreated bed-bug and other infestations, some causing the hospitalization of children, and most ruining of our client’s already limited possessions. Lawsuits by debt collectors are on the rise, including those trying to collect on debts that are beyond the statute of limitations, or from seniors living only on social security—income which cannot legally be garnished. Predictably, calls seeking bankruptcy assistance are up as well. In all of these examples, the perpetrators appear more brazen, the victims more vulnerable.

While my position does expose me to the human toll of these desperate times, it also allows me to witness the better angels of our nature. Every Saturday, lawyers volunteer to come downtown to help low-income clients through our Saturday Lawyer Program, assisting with unpaid wage claims, landlord tenant disputes, and aggressive debt collection. Every Tuesday and Thursday, volunteer lawyers from Troutman Sanders and King & Spalding represent tenants in the Fulton County dispossessory court. Every week, volunteer lawyers represent victims of domestic violence seeking protective orders through our Safe Families office at the Fulton County courthouse. Just when the injustices begin to chip away at the faith necessary to continue this work, the generosity and compassion of these volunteers restore hope—not just to the clients who are so grateful for the respect they are shown and the assistance they are given, but also to the staff at AVLF whose privilege it is to do this work.

One particular day comes to mind. John, a client I met at the Saturday Lawyer Program, had worked for and been a tenant of what appeared to be, for all intents and purposes, a true East Point slumlord. Desperate for affordable housing for his girlfriend and young infant child, John felt compelled to work for this landlord in exchange for illegally low wages and very low rent—in a building that should be condemned. After John completed a week’s worth of painting at one of the landlord’s houses, the landlord picked up John, told him he was taking him to get dinner, and dropped him off on the other side of town—with $20 for his troubles. What John did not know is that the landlord had also already dropped his girlfriend and infant child off at a shelter and illegally evicted the family. All of John’s family’s possessions were locked inside and inaccessible.

John’s ordeal illustrates this desperation and advantage-taking all too well. But all was not lost. As a result the tireless work of AVLF volunteer Michelle Sirwen, an associate with McKenna Long & Aldridge, John obtained a judgment awarding him the value of all his lost property, damages as a result of what he was put through, the costs of all the efforts made to recover what little was left, back pay, punitive damages for the landlord’s wanton and willful conduct, attorneys fees, and a writ of immediate possession to enter three premises where his belongings were reportedly being stored. Earlier this month, John had the protection of that court order and two Fulton County sheriffs, the use of a U-Haul truck provided by AVLF and McKenna Long & Aldridge, the assistance of a professional locksmith, and two AVLF attorneys—one being yours truly—who were putting their law degrees to use as professional movers that day—all to help John recover what was left of his belongings and make an accounting of what was lost.

Though it turned out to be an emotional (some belongings, while still there, were ruined) and at times a very tense day (it included a confrontation with the landlord) of chronicling the destruction one person can cause in another’s life, it was also a day that restored our faith. The sheriffs were consummate professionals who had a real sympathy for what happened to John, staying with us—free of charge—far longer than they were scheduled. Neighbors provided bottled water and needed tools. Friends of John’s children showed up and helped us move furniture—and Michelle, the AVLF volunteer, sent pizzas and drinks for the whole group. Finally, with nowhere for John to put the furniture that was recovered, a local storage facility owner allowed us to unload before the bill was paid—which was later that evening taken care of by John’s new employer, and a man of faith who wanted to help his employee in a time of need.

At every turn, the people we needed to show some compassion and give some assistance exceeded our expectations. I dropped off the U-Haul truck that night in wonder of the malevolence some can display toward others already down on their luck, but more so of the compassion that volunteers and even strangers can have to help pull someone through desperate times. At AVLF, we simply try to provide an outlet for that compassion that comes naturally from our volunteer attorneys. That day, amidst the desperation, it was my privilege to see that compassion—and those better angels of our nature—reaching out to John.