Evictions: Surge is coming, and more aid needed

Re: “Legal aid is key to fixing pandemic-damaged lives,” (TNT, 6/14).

The recent column by Rob McKenna and Salvador A. Mungia highlights why civil legal aid is key to recovering from COVID-19.

At TacomaProBono, the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association’s free legal aid program, requests for assistance with housing and domestic violence issues have more than doubled during the pandemic.

Even before COVID-19, our Housing Justice Project was able to represent only about a quarter of tenants facing eviction. With so many people now behind on rent, we expect a surge of evictions after the state moratorium ends in August.

We are grateful that the state provided emergency funding through the Office of Civil Legal Aid to launch an Emergency Eviction Defense Program. Our staff, volunteers, law students and contract attorneys will fight to keep people safely housed.

But the need will be immense, and we hope that state and local leaders continue to provide the resources required to prevent mass evictions and homelessness – and that our legal community will stay involved, through volunteering and donating to the Campaign for Equal Justice.

This story was originally published July 18, 2020 at 9:25 AM with the headline "Evictions: Surge is coming, and more aid needed."