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“It’s an absolute world of difference,” said Carl Guthrie, a lawyer with Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas, which oversees the program. “Evictions are technical, right? It’s the law. And a lot of times they’re done wrong, especially when there’s not attorneys on either side.”Volunteer attorneys have been in Travis County’s virtual courtrooms since September, available to help renters with their cases.
“I just got a copy of the petition about 30 minutes ago and spoke to my client about five minutes ago,” he told Judge Juan Duran, who was presiding over Travis County Justice of the Peace Precinct 2 that day. While he didn’t have hard numbers when he spoke with KUT, he guessed that before this program 1 in every 40 renters had an attorney; he said now it’s closer to 1 in 2.Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas says nearly 80% of cases it has handled as part of this program have not resulted in an eviction ruling. But that doesn’t necessarily mean a tenant didn’t have to move.
"What's the actual cost of an eviction on someone’s life? It’s more than having to pony up for a new security deposit or first month’s rent or moving fees."“A lot of times before having a lawyer, tenants would explain situations about the nature of the landlord tenant-relationship or things that the landlord didn't do correctly or things that were supposed to be done correctly, that really don't affect the legal case in terms of an unpaid rent case,” Chu told KUT.
“Our encouragement to the county is to continue to look at expanding that direct assistance for those residents who are in need because that really is an earlier intervention that definitely we have seen to be a good investment,” Blair said.
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