In a 4- vote the Cobb County Board of Commissioners approved $681,925 to “establish and support Cobb Authorized Aid’s Housing Security Job to present authorized companies for all those qualified households associated to eviction proceedings and retaining housing stability via enhanced instruction and awareness of Georgia’s eviction laws.”
Cobb County Chief Magistrate Choose Brendan Murphy, who wrote the letter requesting the funds, and introduced the proposal to the BOC, reported “Joining us in this article in the board place is Jennifer Yankulova. She is the taking care of lawyer for Cobb Lawful Assist.”
Murphy reported that resources allotted to Cobb from the Period1 method, which has been offering rental support to Cobb tenants by way of a group of company suppliers, has been about a 3rd of the way expended.
“The county has also acknowledged roughly $7 million in Period2 funding, but has not but allotted that income, given that you’re nonetheless shelling out out Era1 by the providers,” he stated.
“The Era2 system makes it possible for up to 10% to be invested on housing security expert services,” Murphy explained. “The Treasury steerage defines one this kind of housing stability support as together with low revenue lawful providers. So that would be supplied by an organization like Cobb Legal Assist.”
“We all know beneath the Constitution, there’s a right to counsel and you obtain that by means of the circuit defender’s office environment, there is no attendant proper in civil conditions, while in a civil circumstance, your boy or girl can be taken from you,” he reported. “Your house could be taken from you, your occupation can be taken from you.”
“And so what this is asking the board to do is spend in civil legal representation, Cobb Authorized Aid, at no cost to the county,” Judge Murphy stated.
“I’m pretty psyched to report there’d be two countrywide most effective tactics introduced to Cobb County by means of this motion,” he mentioned.
“One would be an response clinic, a lawyer on internet site, when people appear in to respond to their eviction motion, they could check with with a lawyer on internet site ideal then and there,” mentioned Murphy. “And then having on website authorized illustration, so that when individuals come to their listening to, they’d be equipped to consult with an legal professional proper then and there for either minimal scope or comprehensive scope representation.”
“This proposal runs by way of the stop of 2024. If the county accepts … a next tranche of Period2 cash, the application could be extended by means of September of 2025,” Murphy stated.
Judge Murphy stated that he wished he could say that Cobb had the ideal solution to rental aid in the U.S., but that Nashville has a full eviction diversion application up and functioning currently, and that this proposal just before the BOC would be a down payment on this sort of a program.
Chairwoman Cupid thanked Cobb Lawful Support for stepping up even prior to funding was out there, and also thanked the other non-earnings partners in rental support, and County Lawyer Deborah Blair.
With that she made a motion to give the requested funding, and it passed 4-, with Commissioner Keli Gambrill absent.