The Inequalities of Landlord Tenant Court

Last Friday, Eli and I decided to go to Landlord Tenant Court to see our Bread attorneys in action and to help if there was anything the attorneys needed assistance on. As I sat in the court waiting during roll call, and throughout the day, I was struck by many images of inequality that became immediately apparent. It has been a few days now and yet, I have continued to reflect on these images...



I noticed that the courtroom was full, mainly of African Americans. Yes, it's true - D.C. is still a African American dominated city, so perhaps that is what one would expect. Yet, I saw few men and women of other races; those who were white appeared immediately to be attorneys. As it turned out during roll call, most of the white people either worked as landlord attorney's or were Bread for the City attorneys defending the tenants. I am not usually one to point to racism as ever present in American society, but it seemed clear at that moment that white people in the District tend to own their homes, leaving many (but not all) African Americans as tenants. Here in the nation's capital... even here race continues to separate us into different categories.



Most landlords have attorneys to be present for them at the actual L/T proceeding. Thus landlords are able to continue with their business while the attorneys represent them. And, when listening closely, it became clear that most landlords were represented by just a few attorneys while the majority of tenants stood there without any sort of protection or knowledge of their rights. There were a handful of tenants represented by attorneys - mostly Bread for the City attorneys.

While the landlords have attorneys present for them in the court, tenants do not, and thus, must come to their court date, unsure of what is going to happen. Their fate looks like it is heading towards eviction. The judge tells them during roll call that they might have to stay as long as 5 pm to ensure their case gets heard. I'm guessing most of the low-income tenants I observed at Landlord Tenant court are on hourly jobs, not salaried, and face loss of wages for the day as well, further depleting them of resources needed for their families.

These were my initial observations into the disparity at L/T court. A light shining, though, offsets at least some of the inequities. DC Law students in court are able to jump in and help some tenants each day. The Landlord Tenant resource center gives information to tenants each morning and helps tenants fill out paperwork. The Attorney of the Day project helps provide representation to tenants who are income eligible. And of course, there are great attorneys like Rebecca, Vytas, Skip, Julia, and Jenny, who protect the rights of tenants through their direct client representation and advocacy efforts.

I guess I see inequality each and every day at Bread for the City. I didn't expect it to be this easy to spot at Landlord Tenant Court. But at least I an count on attorneys like ours here to help ensure some tenants have fair access to justice.