By Dianne Anderson

Housing and eviction cases piling up are keeping Tyler Press Sutherland, along with her dozens of attorneys busy, not showing signs of relief any time soon, or within the last two years since the pandemic.

Attorneys at the Public Law Center handle seven different areas of law, including family law, immigration consumer rights and elder abuse issues, and for the most part, housing.

“In all of our cases, we do some counsel and advice if someone calls for information to full scope representation in court or appeal. The number one issue since 2021 is people calling with housing issues,” said Sutherland, director of the Public Law Center Legal Services.

But seniors are getting hit especially hard, both by strangers and relatives in scams that are starting to look a lot like the first economic downturn, the Great Recession starting in 2008.

“It’s resurfaced its ugly head and we see that quite frequently,” she said. “They invite a relative into their home to care for them and prepare meals. That person puts pressure on them to sign over the deed to the person or relative that is taking care of them.”

In those cases, the elderly often are pressured, or obligated to the person caring for them, or they are afraid to be alone. For those that don’t own a home, evictions are also fueling the housing crisis for the elderly.

More are getting pushed out of their apartments with no place to go.

“Buildings [are] getting sold, told that they’re going to renovate them, but there’s no place to go. We see a lot of elders come in that are being evicted, forcibly moved from an apartment that they may have lived in for 20 or 30 years,” she said.

Other frequent cases for the law center include victims of domestic violence. The center helps with restraining orders, divorce and custody issues. Another area of law seeing high demand is help with their de facto parent program, relatives caring for another relative’s child can establish guardianship and get help with documentation around kinship care.

The Community Legal Aid SoCal is their counterpart, which is a nonprofit funded by the government, but she said that kind of funding comes with restrictions. Public Law Center has more leeway to work with a variety of clients.

“Our funding sources are State of California, California Bar [Association], local county grants that allow us to take cases regardless of someone’s immigration status. The majority of our clients are U.S. Residents, [meaning] we can work with our elected officials on developing bills and making change in areas of law we work on,” she said.

The Public Law Center was one of 25 nonprofits to receive funding from the Orange County Community Foundation Social Justice Fund.

At last count ending 2021, Sutherland said they handled 4,500 cases.

“Primarily attorneys in private practice come and get training from us. They take a case, help one individual client, we have pro bono attorneys that take thousands of cases every year,” she said, adding that they are always open to more volunteers, and calling on help with more attorneys, as well as non-attorney volunteers for clinics and intake.

While they do not cover employment law cases, she said their center spans the gamut of other services.

“In housing law, we take all sorts of cases. When a discrimination case comes our way, something we are absolutely open to working on, we take on systemic issues and file affirmative cases in housing all the time,” she said.

Being African American, she said she keeps her eyes open to how the community is dealing with the impact of the need for justice.

“I think that’s the way you leverage power in a county as Orange County where you have to be in collaboration with everyone that’s doing the good work. We are always open to making new partnerships and hearing from other nonprofits trying to serve the Black community,” she said.

Workshops are free and ongoing for the community. The center frequently holds Know Your Rights trainings, and has small expungement events focused on veterans with criminal records.

At its core, she sees justice as recognizing what it takes to rise above the struggle. For the Public Law Center, she said it’s crucial for individuals coming into contact with the legal system to have access to defend themselves and assert their claims.

“We really value the ability of our staff to help individuals level that playing field,” she said. “We are reaching toward societal justice, but every day that means we need to take baby steps and help one individual at a time. Otherwise, those people will be left behind and that is true injustice.”

For more information, see  https://www.publiclawcenter.org/