BRIGHTON, N.Y. — A new program in Brighton hopes to help stabilize folks in poverty. The Brighton Landlord Tenant Project will connect pro-bono lawyers with people facing evictions.

Forty-two percent of people in Brighton are renters. Town Supervisor Bill Moehle says the goal here is to tackle systemic poverty and stop people who are in a bad situation from making it worse.

This program is run by the local nonprofit Just Cause. When you show up in Brighton Town Court a volunteer lawyer will be there, offering to help you with your eviction case.

Most of the time they don’t fight to keep you in that home forever. Instead, they come to settlements with your landlord’s lawyers to stop the eviction and give you time to figure out a new place to live.

The program will also screen tenants for social services like rental assistance, or SNAP benefits. The goal with all this is stabilization.

Moehle says before he was town supervisor, he practiced law and volunteered with Just Cause for several cases.

“A courtroom is an intimidating place, there’s shame involved. So having an attorney there really helps ease some of that burden that otherwise you know the person whose name is on the lease is facing by themselves,” said Bill Moehle, Brighton Town Supervisor.

“Even if we aren’t able to prevent someone from having to move, we are preventing someone from having an eviction on their record so that they will not be able to find another place to live and we are also helping people to stay where they are as long as possible,” said Tina Foster, executive director of Just Cause.

Moehle says this program doesn’t cost Brighton taxpayers anything, because the lawyers volunteer their time. Just Cause claims it can even save governments money in the long run because it helps prevent homelessness.

Other towns have similar programs.

Just Cause runs the program in Irondequoit, too. That’s been going on for several years. The program wants to expand to all towns but it’s just a matter of getting the staffing and grants to do so.”

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