Shriver Center, Jenner & Block Restore Housing Choice Vouchers

The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, joined by pro bono attorneys from Jenner & Block, last fall successfully negotiated for the Housing Authority of Elgin (Illinois) to reconsider and restore forty families to the Housing Choice Voucher Program Citing federal budget cuts, the housing authority had terminated dozens of families from the program.

One of the Shriver Center’s clients, Elizabeth, is an exemplary case. A mother of three, Elizabeth works part-time while her older children are in school. When she received her Housing Choice Voucher last May, her family got the opportunity to move to a larger (though still fairly crowded) apartment for her growing boys. The voucher allowed Elizabeth the chance to start saving some money to lift herself and her family out of poverty.

But Elizabeth’s world was shaken last summer when the housing authority notified her that her voucher was to be terminated the next month—in the middle of her lease—not because of anything she had done wrong but simply because of budget cuts. Elizabeth faced a market-rate rent payment on the lease that she had only been able to afford with the help of her voucher.

Elizabeth was not alone. The housing authority, blaming budget cuts, terminated up to fifty-five families in the same situation last summer.

Nearly a dozen of those terminated families sought help from Prairie State Legal Services, the local direct legal services provider. The investigation by Prairie State attorneys Kathryn Bettcher and Sarah Megan found that the housing authority had mismanaged its voucher program but still had options—including dipping into its reserves and even appealing its budget determination—short of terminating the families. In any case, Prairie State found, the housing authority had improperly terminated the families.

Prairie State filed in state court two separate cases, both of which resulted in the reinstatement of the individual families they represented. However, since Prairie State receives federal funds and is thus subject to Legal Services Corporation restrictions, Prairie State could not pursue class action litigation to seek relief for the larger group of terminated families.

That was when the Shriver Center stepped in, recruiting Jenner & Block to work with it to represent the remaining families and restore their vouchers. The Shriver Center and Jenner & Block sought out other families who had been terminated, interviewed them about their experiences, and prepared to file class action litigation in federal district court. After identifying potential class representatives, the Shriver Center and Jenner & Block sent to the housing authority a demand letter asking it to restore the remainder of the vouchers that had been terminated. The Shriver Center and Jenner & Block alleged that the housing authority’s actions violated federal and state statutes, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations, and even constitutional due process rights.

Rather than engage in protracted litigation, the housing authority immediately agreed to restore the vouchers in question. Elizabeth’s voucher was restored, as were the vouchers of the other families who were terminated last summer. The Shriver Center and Jenner & Block also helped the housing authority find other families with whom they had lost contact.

The Shriver Center, with Jenner & Block’s help, had an impact by pursuing advocacy strategies that a federally funded legal services program, such as Prairie State, is not allowed to pursue. Beyond that, the Shriver Center, along with Jenner & Block, developed model pleadings and claims to fight similar voucher cuts feared around the country. The Shriver Center emerges as a national leader in defending the rights of families with Housing Choice Vouchers.