spotlight

When Brad Ramsey adopted his new service dog Ren, his landlord threatened to evict him for having a pet. “I felt frantic and heartbroken,” he said. “I’ve been in my apartment for 12 years, and if I had to move, I’d probably have to leave San Francisco, which would make me lose the funding that pays most of my rent. I was really distraught.” Thanks to ALRP Housing Attorney Jaime Rush, Brad won his case and he and Ren are living together happily ever after.

A few months ago, ALRP Housing Attorney Jaime Rush had four separate clients call in with the same complaint: out of the blue they had received notices from their landlord that their rental subsidies would no longer be accepted. It turned out that they all lived in the same building. “We got their approval to work with them as a group and did quite a bit of research,” said Jaime, “and it looked to us like the landlord’s attempt to cut off these subsidies was illegal.”

Brian Brophy’s client was homeless and HIV+, and on top of everything else, his dog had been seized by Animal Care & Control. “His caseworker called me and asked if I could help,” said Brian, ALRP’s HCAP Attorney. “The dog was potentially going to be euthanized because it had allegedly been aggressive. Animal Care & Control wasn’t willing to release it to my client as long as he was homeless, because the dog would be around people constantly…”

Originally from Massachusetts, ALRP Board member Tom Hixson moved to San Francisco in 1998. “At that time,” said Tom, “the AIDS crisis really had changed thanks to the new medications. I had the sense of moving into a city where I was arriving right after the worst part of the crisis had passed. I live in the Castro, and I can still feel the impact that HIV/AIDS has had on the community.”