Legal Action of Wisconsin recently helped a homeless woman with eight children (including two disabled children) get back into her home. She had left the home because of domestic violence. Compounding the problem, her rent assistance benefits had been terminated when she and her children left the home to escape further abuse.
The family contacted Legal Action from a homeless shelter. Legal Action advocated on the woman’s behalf with the housing authority and pointed out that a new law prohibited terminating rent assistance for a victim of domestic violence.
The client’s former landlord agreed to let her move back into the apartment (after the abuser was evicted). But when she fell behind in rent, he began eviction proceedings against her.
Legal Action then obtained verification from the housing authority that the family’s rent assistance would be reinstated. Consequently, the landlord stopped the eviction action.
Legal Action of Wisconsin works on behalf of low-income people needing help with civil (not criminal) cases. This nonprofit focuses on clients’ most crucial needs: safe and affordable housing, adequate income and nutrition, access to health care, preservation of the family, and protection from domestic violence. In this way Legal Action helps clients break the cycle of poverty.
