Annie Toborg

The Project

Annie’s (she/her/hers) Fellowship with the Maryland’s Tenants’ Right to Counsel Project (TRCP) ensures that income-eligible tenants can access free legal representation during eviction proceedings. 

Despite the violence, trauma, and long-term ramifications of losing a home, the vast majority of tenants who face eviction proceedings do so without any legal assistance. Research shows that tenants who have legal representation achieve much better outcomes and are more likely to stay in their homes. In 2021, Maryland passed a bill, making it the second state in the nation to provide access to counsel to tenants facing an eviction. Maryland’s Tenants’ Right to Counsel Project is critical to counterbalance the disparate bargaining power between landlords and tenants, and to interrupt systems that keep people in poverty.  

Fellowship Plans 

Annie works with Maryland Legal Aid’s Statewide Advocacy Support to ensure that the TRCP is implemented effectively and equitably. Her work during this Fellowship includes legislative advocacy, supporting appellate work, and coalition building with other tenant advocate groups. She will also provide direct representation to tenants, including day-of court representation for tenants facing eviction.

Nationwide, tenants are organizing and advocating for affordable and safe housing. This work is intertwined with and depends on economic justice, racial justice, and other struggles that seek to dismantle systemic oppression. Similar to workers in the labor movement, when tenants get together to fight for better living conditions, we are bound to succeed. 

Housing is more than a physical structure. Housing is home—and home is integral to our identity, our connection to community, and our sense of belonging and safety. When we fight for our home, and all that encompasses, we fight for our dignity as human beings. 

Annie Toborg /
2022 Housing Justice Program Fellow

The Project:

Natali (she/her/hers) provides low-income tenants with a right to counsel and other legal services when they are facing eviction or living in unsafe and unsanitary housing conditions to ensure their rights to stable and secure housing.

This project seeks to address the lack of legal representation for low-income tenants facing housing related legal issues. Black and Latinx low-income communities disparately face housing insecurity. Being a first-generation Latina immigrant herself, whose parents struggled for a long time to find stability when they first arrived, this topic is a personal one for Natali. That is why she chose to work in this field of law. Natali will provide free and adequate legal counsel to low-income community members facing housing instability. She plans to accomplish this through her work on eviction defense, housing code violation cases, and community outreach to help communities know their rights regarding access to safe and secure housing. Everyone should have the right to properly be heard through the guidance of appropriate legal counsel to achieve fair and just outcomes. 

Fellowship Plans:

Natali will address this by focusing on the Access to Counsel in Eviction Program (ACE) at Maryland Legal Aid. In ACE, Natali will use her lawyering skills to help provide direct client services and conduct community outreach. She will work with her colleagues to address the systemic issues found in low-income tenant’s lack of access to counsel when facing housing insecurity and unsafe housing conditions to create a proactive approach instead of a reactive one. Since she is also fluent in Spanish, she will dedicate her efforts to help tenants who feel more comfortable speaking Spanish. 

The Project

Caroline Tripp (she/her/hers) promotes housing stability by representing low-income tenants in eviction proceedings and rent escrow actions.

Maryland housing law incentivizes landlords to file for eviction to collect rent. Between 2000 and 2018, there was an eviction filing rate of 83.3%, a number more than ten times the 7.7% rate for the other 49 states. As a result, Baltimore County has a failure to pay rent docket of over a thousand cases daily. Systematic inequalities are visible in rent court, in 2022 more than 90% of landlords have counsel compared to less than 10% of tenants.

Fellowship Plans

During her fellowship, Caroline will implement Maryland’s recent Access to Counsel in Evictions legislation, which provides low-income tenants with legal representation in eviction proceedings. Her legal work will include fighting evictions and enforcing tenants’ rights to safe and habitable housing through rent escrow cases. She will also be engaging in community outreach, educating tenants about their rights, and mobilizing people living in dangerous conditions.

Caroline is from Maryland and is excited to return to her home state and give back to the community that shaped her. She is grateful that her fellowship gives her the opportunity to engage with tenants through outreach.

I’m grateful my Equal Justice Works Fellowship has afforded me the opportunity to return to my home state and give back to the community that raised me.

Caroline Tripp /
2023 Equal Justice Works Fellow

The Project

Dontae’s project at South Carolina Appleseed will focus on coordinating with community partners and impacted individuals to help bring attention to the need to improve eviction laws, access to affordable housing, and housing disparities in South Carolina.

South Carolina has some of the worst outcomes in the country when it comes to housing disputes and landlord-tenant relations, and the state leads the nation in many categories related to eviction filings, eviction rates, and outcomes unfavorable to tenants. Many tenants facing eviction do not have access to legal counsel, and this eviction filing will follow them as a marker in the public index for life regardless of the outcome of their case. This issue effects all tenants, but disproportionately affects those living in low-income housing, immigrant communities, and families with generational poverty.

Dontae was inspired to do this work after working with disadvantaged communities in North Carolina at a local public defender’s office, as well as an immigration law firm. Dontae has seen firsthand how advocacy can impact peoples’ lives on a personal level, and he wants to continue to build a career advocating for people.

Fellowship Plans

Dontae will be working with attorneys in South Carolina to help implement a more effective and expansive housing court. This will include streamlining the intake process to more effectively address client needs before they appear in court, working with pro bono attorneys to help increase access to counsel, and lobbying with South Carolina justices to implement policies that favor tenants & the discretion of their records. Dontae will also be working directly with people in affected communities to increase literacy regarding the eviction process and tenant rights.

Media

How a Criminal Record Can Lead To a Lifetime of Housing Issues in South Carolina

My Equal Justice Works Fellowship has allowed me to serve in a capacity where I can advocate on behalf of people facing housing insecurity and the uphill battle that accompanies it. I do not think that there is more meaningful work I could be doing.

Dontae James /
2023 Equal Justice Works Fellow

The Project:

Natali focuses on providing low-income tenants a right to counsel and other legal services when they are facing eviction or living in unsafe and unsanitary housing conditions to ensure their rights to stable and secure housing are being protected.

This project seeks to address the lack of legal representation for low-income tenants facing housing related legal issues. Black and Latinx low-income communities disparately face housing insecurity. Being a first-generation Latina immigrant herself, whose parents struggled for a long time to find stability when they first arrived, this topic is a personal one for Natali—that is why she chose to work in this field of law. Natali will provide free and adequate legal counsel to low-income community members who are facing housing instability. She plans to accomplish this through her work on eviction defense, housing code violation cases, and community outreach to help communities know their rights regarding access to safe and secure housing. Everyone should have the right to properly be heard through the guidance of appropriate legal counsel to achieve fair and just outcomes. 

In 2019, Natali was first inspired to do housing justice work while in Washington D.C. On her way to work each day, she would walk by persons who were unhoused. She felt great empathy for these people and felt helpless to aid them—feelings which were exacerbated by COVID-19. Natali knows that a person’s home is the foundational building block for that person to lead a safe, stable, and happy life.

Fellowship Plans:

Natali plans to address this problem by focusing a large part of her efforts on the Access to Counsel in Eviction Program (ACE) at Maryland Legal Aid. In ACE, Natali will use her lawyering skills to help with direct client services. She will also focus a large part of her efforts on the community outreach portion of this Fellowship. She will work with her colleagues to address the systemic issues found in low-income tenant’s lack of access to counsel when facing housing insecurity and unsafe housing conditions to create a proactive approach instead of a reactive one. Seeing as she is also fluent in Spanish, she will dedicate her efforts as best as possible to help tenants who feel more comfortable speaking Spanish.

The Project

Janae’s (she/her) Fellowship with Virginia Poverty Law Center will address the housing affordability crisis. Her work will focus on increasing affordable homeownership opportunities for low-income Virginians and traditionally marginalized communities. She will provide pro se tenants facing evictions with the knowledge and resources to represent themselves in court effectively, work with state officials to propose more robust tenant protections, and litigate landlord-tenant claims in court.

Virginia does not have a right to counsel in civil cases. To mitigate the impact of lack of counsel, Janae’s Fellowship will empower pro se tenants by providing legal education and information to fight eviction cases. This work will increase tenants’ engagement in the eviction process and potentially reduce the occurrence of default judgments. Janae will also collaborate with community organizations to identify and provide in-court representation to tenants whose cases illustrate the injustices that occur. Additionally, Janae’s will work to improve housing stability through partnerships to increase affordable housing.

Fellowship Plans

Janae will assist in developing an online self-help portal containing legal information and sample pleadings that pro se tenants can use to fight eviction cases. Furthermore, Janae plans to provide in-court representation to tenants whose cases highlight and challenge systematic practices. Additionally, Janae will collaborate with community partners to increase homeownership opportunities amongst low-income Virginians by devising a down payment assistance program.

“No matter who you are or where you come from, at some point in your life, you will need someone to advocate on your behalf. I consider it a privilege to be that advocate for the tenants of Virginia experiencing evictions and navigating the court system.”

Janae Craddock /
2023 Housing Justice Program Fellow

The Project

Larisa Zehr’s (she/her/hers) project with Legal Aid Justice Center will focus on working with immigrant communities across Northern Virginia to fight displacement and achieve housing justice.

Northern Virginia is home to many long-term immigrant communities that are in the midst of displacement. Systemic racial, economic, and citizenship status discrimination make it very difficult for these communities to secure stable, long-term affordable housing, exacerbated by COVID-19. Increasing development pressures, a lack of local and state-level policies that protect affordable housing, and Virginia’s limited tenant protections mean that immigrant families are being pushed out of the region. However, there are many groups of tenants and grassroots organizations pushing back. Legal Aid Justice Center has long-term connections with people organizing for housing justice, especially with undocumented and underdocumented communities. With this project, Larisa Zehr will work alongside community members to fight displacement with multiple tools: individual defense of tenant rights, policy advocacy, strategic litigation, and community education.

Fellowship Plans

Larisa Zehr will work with tenant groups and grassroots organizations to support their advocacy for more just housing policy on a local level, including through policy advocacy, community education, and strategic legal research. She will highlight the impact of affordable housing policy on the particular needs of immigrant communities to key policy stakeholders. She will also defend community members from displacement both in eviction court and because of systemic neglect of repairs and housing quality.

Project Inspiration

My Equal Justice Works Fellowship allows me to fight alongside Northern Virginia’s immigrant tenants for a housing system that is accountable for its harm to immigrant communities. My experience working with people who have been forcibly displaced makes me proud to contribute to the fight for housing for all.

Our homes are where we imagine and build our futures. I learned about the impact of being forced out of your home from rural farmers in Colombia, where I supported their fight to reclaim and rebuild their communities amid armed conflict. In my work in Northern Virginia, I see immigrants who were forced out of their communities by systemic violence and injustice, and after fighting to gain stability in a new home, face the continual threat of displacement. I am honored to work with them to preserve their communities and future homes.

The Project

Dan’s project focuses on addressing housing instability in and near Petersburg, Virginia through his representation of low-income individuals as a housing attorney with Central Virginia Legal Aid Society, Inc. Petersburg has one of the highest eviction rates among small cities in the U.S. and the surrounding cities and counties Dan serves face much the same problem. Eviction disproportionately affects those experiencing poverty, meaning they are less likely to be able to obtain an attorney. Many of these individuals also experience other conflicts with their landlords that can be addressed through the assistance of an attorney.Fellowship Plans

To help address these problems, Dan will represent eligible individuals in housing-related litigation, including eviction defense and affirmative litigation to address issues like poor housing conditions, lockouts, and other abuses by landlords. Dan will additionally engage in community outreach to engage others who can assist and legal training to train more attorneys who can then lend their services to those individuals in need.

Dan became inspired to do this work during his time assisting Central Virginia Legal Aid Society as a pro bono attorney. He realized he could use his skills and education to make a difference in the lives of people who may not otherwise have been able to receive legal assistance. Housing is a fundamental need that so many unfortunately fear the loss of or lose, and Dan desires to make a difference for as many of these individuals as he can.

Through my Equal Justice Works Fellowship, I will put my legal skills to work assisting low-income individuals in Petersburg, Virginia and the surrounding areas who are experiencing housing instability or other housing issues.

Dan Shupe /
2023 Fellow in the Housing Justice Program

The Project

Lisa’s project with South Carolina Legal Services will focus on offering assistance with housing issues, such as evictions, to underserved and underprivileged members of our community.

At South Carolina Legal Services, Lisa will serve low-income individuals who are at risk or currently experiencing housing instability, involuntary displacement, and eviction.

Fellowship Plans

Lisa will attend relevant legal training and conferences that will provide information to benefit the clients. Lisa will provide legal advice and representation to assist those facing housing instability, involuntary displacement, eviction, or other landlord/tenant issues. Lisa will provide outreach services to the community to educate and inform them of services offered to assist community members with evictions and other housing and landlord/tenant issues.

Lisa knows the security of having a place to call home, and is grateful to be able to help others have a place that they too can call home.

My Equal Justice Works Fellowship has given me with the opportunity to help our low-income clients obtain or maintain housing, a basic need for our clients.

Lisa Beharry /
2023 Fellow in the Housing Justice Program

The Project

Amanda will collaborate with Attorney Fellows at Maryland Legal Aid, the state’s largest provider of free and direct legal services, to create an educational campaign to share information about Maryland’s new Access to Counsel in Evictions law with tenants who are most vulnerable to eviction. This effort will include outreach to housing rights advocates, tenant organizations, community development corporations, local housing departments and social service providers on the front lines of Maryland’s eviction crisis. Amanda hopes to see tenants find their collective power and increase the number of Marylanders utilizing the services allotted by Access to Counsel in Evictions.

During the 2021 legislative session, the Access to Counsel in Evictions law was passed by the Maryland General Assembly. There are many detrimental personal and societal costs of evictions—including displacement, homelessness, and long-lasting health implications. Landlords and housing providers have historically been represented by counsel in 90% of the time, while tenants have not had representation in 90% of cases. This creates a wildly unfair playing field and a situation where access to representation is a simple and impactful solution. Those most impacted by this inequity are black and brown households, those households led by women, and our most vulnerable senior and disabled neighbors.

Fellowship Plans

Amanda’s campaign intends to be both relationship and data driven. Amanda will utilize census information to pin-point neighborhoods in the target region most vulnerable to eviction. Additionally, Amanda will work to meet tenants where they are as they navigate the services and systems currently in place to address their needs. Through a collection of educational sessions and door knocking efforts in collaboration with our Attorney Fellows, Amanda hopes to see tenants find the strength in their collective voice and power.

Amanda is passionate about housing justice and has had several working roles in that community. Amanda is a social worker by trade but uses a macro lens to uplift the profession’s foundational value of social justice. Amanda believes that when we have more than we need, it is our obligation to create a longer table, not a higher wall.

No one can thrive when their basic needs are compromised, and safe housing is the bare minimum. Eviction prevention is the difference between stability and uncertainty—sometimes life and death.

Amanda Catherine Wisniewski /
2023 Fellow in the Housing Justice Program