Lawyers Prepare for Deluge of Eviction Cases

City officials and non-profit organizations are gearing up to support what is likely to be a massive influx of eviction cases when courts reopen on June 1.

Leading those efforts is Texas RioGrande Legal Aid and Tenant rights lawyer Christina Trejo, who is the team manager for the community housing rights project at TRLA's San Antonio office.  

Alongside the city and the San Antonio Legal Services Association (SALSA), TRLA is developing a pair of programs to aid tenants who have found themselves out of work and struggling to pay rent.

Trejo is hopeful that attorneys in the community who volunteer through SALSA's tenant's rights program can stymie that flood by negotiating with landlords with tenants who have fallen on hard times. 

"The thing I’m excited about with SALSA is that I’m hoping they’re going to be able to have a pool of attorneys who can go do what we can’t do. We anticipate there’s going to be a ton of these [cases] once the courts open back up," Trejo said.

SALSA put out a call for attorneys to join its tenant's rights clinic in late April, with the organization tapping TRLA for help training lawyers who don't work on housing issues. 

Organization director Sarah Dingivan said that 30 people have signed up for the first training session on Monday, May 18.

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