13-05-2025
Columbus to help fund fight against wrongful evictions
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Nearly 2,000 people have received an eviction filing in Columbus over the last month, according to the Eviction Lab, an organization that published the first nationwide database of evictions.
Now, federal funding that helps provide legal aid to people facing eviction is set to end, leaving Columbus to have to get creative to address the crisis without federal support.
On Monday, Columbus City Council approved nearly $1.5 million to continue support for those facing eviction. That funding will help hundreds of people, just like the ones who shared their story with NBC4.
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'It was really stressful. It's like I was really worried about me and my kids being homeless,' Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio (LASCO) Client Meegan O'Neal said.
O'Neal received an eviction notice in December.
'They were saying that I owed money for not paying rent. I've been here four and a half, almost five years, and never, ever missed paying my rent,' O'Neal said.
Her landlord claimed their ledgers showed she was behind on rent, but she had the receipts to prove otherwise: five years' worth of payments.
She brought those to LASCO.
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'With rising eviction rates, it's really critical to make sure that tenants have a continued voice at eviction court,' LASCO Tenant Advocacy Project Managing Attorney Jyoshu Tsushima said.
They fought her case and won, as a part of the Tenant Advocacy project, which provides free legal advice and representation to qualifying tenants being evicted.
'It was relief. It was a relief. It was, I was relieved with joy,' O'Neal said.
Others in eviction court are hoping for that same feeling. One family is getting help right now.
'The company terminated [our] lease because they didn't keep up the proper repairs,' one LASCO client, who asked not to be identified, said. 'Never late, never missed rent, did everything that she's supposed to do and still end up being a victim.'
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The program is funded, in part, by pandemic relief-era funding, which is running out, so Columbus City Council is helping to fill some of the gaps.
'Having access to counsel, having that legal representation can be the world of difference,' Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin said.
Part of this money is coming from the city's general fund, while the other part is the rest of the pandemic relief funding that must be spent by September.
'Having a trained attorney that has the ability to say, 'Wait a minute, this person has done, this renter has done their part,' and to stop that eviction means the whole world,' Hardin said.
The money approved by council will support tenants facing eviction who have children and who are below the poverty line.
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