Dominique Lucas, a recent Legal Aid Chicago client, faced sexual harassment at her landlord’s hands after he repeatedly solicited her for sex. Dominique refused his advances and later was shocked to receive an eviction notice despite making timely rent payments. It was evident to Dominique that her landlord filed the eviction because she refused to comply with his overtures.

Dominique is not alone. Despite the moratorium on evictions, Cook County saw 3,339 eviction cases filed between March and August 2020, and an even greater 250,000 households are at risk of eviction in January. Lesley Watts, another Legal Aid Chicago client, received an eviction notice after her son’s doctor prescribed an emotional support dog for him. She informed the landlord that she had gotten the dog and told him the reason. Without notifying her, Lesley’s landlord filed an eviction against her. These are two examples of how landlords are wrongfully evicting families, even when they pay their rent and abide by all the rules.

Both families would have been homeless if it had not been for Legal Aid Chicago’s intervention. Our attorneys helped these women and their children stay in their homes, just as we do for 95% of the clients that come to us after receiving eviction threats.

Evictions haven’t slowed down, and neither will our attorneys and advocates. It costs us an average of $1,200 to save a family from a wrongful eviction. DONATE TODAY and help Chicago families stay in their homes this holiday season.