Workstations could assist those facing evictions

legal aid extends remote services throughout region

Those who are facing eviction or experiencing housing discrimination or landlord harassment could find assistance closer to home through remote workstations located throughout the Eastern Sierra.

Michael Godbe, directing attorney for the Bishop office of California Indian Legal Services, said the office also includes the Eastern Sierra Legal Assistance Program and the Inyo Mono Senior Legal Program. These programs provide a variety of basic civil legal aid services unrelated to federal Indian law to low incomeand age-eligible clients in Inyo, Mono, and Alpine counties.

Godbe said due to the rural nature of the area with communities that have smaller populations, access to these services can be limited, which is the reason behind the remote workstations.

The remote workstations are located in

Tecopa, Lone Pine, Mammoth Lakes, Walker, Lee Vining, Bridgeport, Markleeville and Bear Valley.

He said issues could go beyond eviction and landlord harassment to include uninhabitable conditions and other barriers to stable housing.

He said people can speak to an attorney about their housing situations for free using the workstations

The workstations

Godbe said “the very basic idea” is that these computer-based workstations, complete with scanners and printers, will be set up primarily in county buildings, such as a senior center or in a Health and Human Services office, where people can go and remotely meet with an attorney.

“The idea is people can show up with documents, and then the attorney can take over the computer remotely,” Godbe said.

“The person can put their documents on the scanner, they don’t have to figure out how to scan it, how to deal with the computer, how to get on the meeting. The over-arching idea is to extend our legal services remotely and make it as easy as possible.”

“The focus of this project is really on eviction defense and housing protections but if people come into our office needing other things, we’re not going to turn them away,” he added.

Godbe reiterated that while these programs fall under the California

Indian Legal Services, again because of the area’s rural nature, they are accessible to anyone.

“We’re the only legal aid office between Bakersfield and Carson City on the east side,” he said. “I have many clients that I run through the Senior Legal Program, the Poverty Law Program and we also have many Native American clients who come to us with non-federal Indian law issues.”

Housing issues

Godbe said a standard example would start with someone getting an eviction notice and that person goes to the workstation to see what options he or she might have.

“We do a whole legal analysis,” he said. “Our representation of individuals will run the whole gamut from simple advice and counsel where we just give someone an assessment all the way up to where we might represent someone through an eviction trial. It just depends on what the case demands and what the need is.”

Godbe said in the last two years, with the state’s focus on housing, laws regarding evictions, rent increases and other issues have changed.

The office can help with:

• Eviction defense

• Protections for mobile home residents

• Requests for reasonable accommodation

• Housing discrimination

• Illegal rent increases

• Unsafe living conditions

• Advice on housing concerns, regardless of whether an eviction is pending.

Call the Bishop office, (760) 873-3581 or (800) 736-3582 to make an appointment at a nearby workstation or drop in during scheduled office hours.

The office is located at 873 N. Main St., Ste. 120, Bishop.