Photo not that of the actual client.
“Sabrina” lives with her four children in public housing operated by the Jacksonville Housing Authority. There, the share of the rent she pays can increase or decrease based on household income, with her housing subsidy covering the remainder.
Recently, Sabrina received a notice that her lease was being terminated because she’d failed to report some child support income in a timely fashion. She was going to be evicted for this alleged violation of her lease agreement. The notice further alleged that she owed $584 in back rent based upon the unreported child support income.
Sabrina disputed the allegations and immediately asked for an administrative grievance hearing with the Housing Authority. She then came to JALA, where the Housing Unit took her case to investigate her claims. The JALA attorneys who investigated the case found that while the Housing Authority was correct in some of the allegations against Sabrina, they had been mistakenly overcharging her rent for the same 8-month period at issue because they had erroneously double-counted the child support income for one of her children.
When her rent was properly calculated, Sabrina in fact owed the Housing Authority just $31, not $584 as alleged. The Housing Authority immediately agreed to take Sabrina’s $31 payment and drop the eviction action prior to the hearing, thus allowing Sabrina and her four children to remain in their apartment.
