Preventing Homelessness for “Francesca”

When “Francesca” initially reached out to ALRP, she was facing eviction with her landlord claiming she hadn’t paid her rent. Francesca had been struggling with the rent, partly because a staff member in her building—one of the landlord’s employees—deceived her into thinking she didn’t need to pay. There were also habitability issues in Francesca’s unit, including black mold and a door that had been broken by her abusive ex-partner.

Senior Housing Attorney Kai Shintani got to work, meeting with Francesca to prepare her defense. At their first meeting, however, it became clear that Francesca was very sick, and they would need more time to respond to the lawsuit. Kai quickly completed the requisite paperwork to avoid Francesca’s immediate eviction and buy some additional time. Matters got worse when Kai learned that Francesca had a highly communicable, antibiotic-resistant disease. This caused extreme complications—not only was Francesca incredibly ill, meeting with Francesca to prepare for the case and attending court hearings in person became impossible.

Senior Housing Attorney Kai Shintani

Kai was able to obtain the necessary medical documentation from Francesca’s doctors to reschedule her hearing. Unfortunately, the Court ultimately insisted that the case move forward. Kai attended the hearing in person with Francesca attending remotely from her hospital bed using Zoom on her cell phone. After a three-hour hearing, Kai successfully resolved the case with an agreement that Francesca could stay in her home. This win was particularly important due to the incredibly high stakes: if the landlord had been able to evict Francesca, she would have been homeless because her highly transmissible illness would have prevented her from being able to relocate to a shelter.

Francesca said: “Kai is a wonderful, patient, understanding, and very wise attorney … Thank you all for helping people like myself and others with similar situations.”