Tag: legal aid justice center

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No relief

The Legal Aid Justice Center doesn’t have enough funding to guarantee a lawyer for every area resident facing eviction, but it has recently hired more attorneys, which means it can represent more tenants. Staff photo.

Since the Supreme Court ended the national eviction moratorium in August, many Virginians have been able to stay in their homes thanks to the state’s rent relief program. But on May 15, the program will stop accepting new applications due to dwindling funds, leaving struggling renters with few other assistance options. 

Once the program ends, Charlottesville and Albemarle residents facing eviction can still apply to the Pathways Fund (833-524-2904), which is prioritizing tenants who owe less than $1,000 in back rent. And across the state, residents in need of rent relief—among other types of assistance—should call 211 to see what local resources are available to them.

However, many community assistance programs have run out of funding over the past two years, explains Lydia Brunk, co-chair of Charlottesville Democratic Socialists of America’s Housing Justice Committee, which connects local residents facing eviction with resources. The state’s program has been the sole source of relief for many tenants behind on rent.

“There are definitely community organizations doing good work, but they can’t be expected to fill in the big giant hole that’s going to be left by an entire statewide-funded eviction prevention program,” says Brunk. “It’s simply not reasonable for the state to pull back this huge social funding, and then for the community to try and patch up the holes.”

With limited rent relief available, housing advocates predict a spike in evictions in the coming weeks. Over the past few months, evictions have already been on the rise—since February 28, there have been 77 eviction hearings in Charlottesville and 260 in Albemarle County, according to court data collected by Charlottesville DSA. During the week of April 11, the two localities had over 85 hearings combined.

The Legal Aid Justice Center urges anyone who receives an eviction notice to show up to their court date.

“There have been property managers and landlords telling people [not to go], and that’s the easiest way to automatically lose your case,” says Moriah Wilkins, LAJC’s Skadden Legal Fellow.

“The number-one thing you can do to advocate for yourself is just be present,” adds Victoria McCullough, co-chair of DSA’s housing justice committee. “That will give you some time between the first court date and whatever else happens next to shore up some support, and we can try to help you with that.” 

Additionally, tenants at risk of losing their homes should keep records of correspondence they’ve had with their landlord. Through June 30, all landlords are required under state law to give tenants who are behind on rent a written 14-day notice to pay what they owe, including information about the 211 assistance line and—until it ends—the Virginia Rent Relief Program, before proceeding with an eviction. Those who own four units must also offer a payment plan of up to six months for past-due rent. And before May 15, landlords are required to apply to the VRRP on the tenant’s behalf during the 14-day notice period, if the tenant has not already applied or agreed to a payment plan. 

“If there are any legal errors in the notice given to you by your landlord, you may be able to prevent or delay your eviction,” says Wilkins.

Until June 30, landlords will still be prohibited from evicting tenants who’ve applied to the VRRP, unless they are not approved to receive relief within 45 days, are found ineligible, or the program runs out of funding.

Local residents facing eviction can contact the LAJC for legal assistance, including help filling out their VRRP application. In July, Charlottesville City Council allocated $300,000 in American Rescue Plan funds to the nonprofit to create an eviction prevention pilot program. With legal representation, tenants facing eviction are far more likely to remain in their homes—yet few can afford a lawyer. Meanwhile, a majority of landlords have attorneys with them in court.

LAJC is also currently in the process of finalizing a $200,000 contract with Albemarle County for eviction prevention. Though LAJC has not received enough funding to guarantee a lawyer for every local resident facing eviction, it has been able to hire additional attorneys since last summer, enabling it to represent more tenants.

More funding from the city may be on the way. “This budget cycle we also voted to allocate $1 million to boost our rent and mortgage relief programs, [but] additional money could potentially be added to support emergency rent relief/eviction prevention when the second tranche of our American Rescue Plan Act money becomes available,” Councilor Michael Payne told C-VILLE in an email. “We haven’t yet had any formal discussions about how to fully allocate that money.”

According to Wilkins, LAJC is prioritizing local residents with unlawful detainers, especially those with housing subsidies. Even if the nonprofit’s lawyers are unable to take on a tenant’s case, they give them free advice on what to do on their court date. 

“We tell people to ask for a hearing. This is when you will have the opportunity to argue your case, and stay in your home,” says Wilkins. “And if you have applied to rent relief prior to May 15, let the judge know—that can be another protection.”

In the meantime, housing advocates encourage struggling tenants to apply to the VRRP as soon as possible—applicants often endure lengthy wait times. Households that make less than half their area’s median income, or with one or more people who have been unemployed for at least 90 days, are being prioritized until the application deadline. 

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In brief: GOP map rejected, city spokesman resigns

The state’s current congressional map (above) yielded seven Democratic representatives and four Republicans in the 2020 election. After a bipartisan redistricting committee fell apart last month, the creation of a new map will be overseen by the Virginia Supreme Court. Photo: US Geological Survey

Virginia Supreme Court rejects GOP mapmaker nominees

Virginia’s redistricting process continues to lurch forward. Last year, voters approved the Democrats’ legislation creating a new, bipartisan committee to draw the districts for state and federal elections. That committee, however, met for two months and then collapsed, unable to overcome its partisan differences. The state’s redistricting process will now be steered by the Virginia Supreme Court.

Each party is responsible for submitting a list of three map drawers to the court. The court is supposed to pick one from each list, and the two chosen map drawers will work together to create a viable map.

Last Friday, members of the court reviewed the submitted lists of map drawers from each party, and didn’t like what they saw—the court ordered the Republicans to go back to square one, and come up with three new names. Every GOP nominee had worked directly with Republicans in redistricting in the past, and the court suggested they wouldn’t be neutral enough for the process.

Del. Marcus Simon. Supplied photo

The court also told the Democrats to submit an additional name, as one of the proposed drawers expressed reservations about the process by which two map drawers will be able to collaborate on a single final map. The initial Dem list included three political science professors, all from California.

Delegate Marcus Simon, one of the Democratic legislators who served on the now-defunct redistricting commission, sounded off on the developments on Twitter. “Glad to see the GOPs initial attempt to inject hyper-partisan mapmakers into the process has been thwarted for the time being,” Simon wrote. “It will take continued vigilance on the part of Democratic lawmakers & advocates to keep them honest going forward.”

Huge gift to LAJC

The Legal Aid Justice Center, an anti-poverty and criminal justice reform advocacy organization based in Charlottesville, received a whopping, unrestricted gift of $10 million from local mega-donor Sonjia Smith last week. Angela Ciolfi, LAJC’s executive director, says she’s already begun meeting with community organizations from across the commonwealth, and that LAJC plans to expand its operations into new areas of the state.

The gift will allow the LAJC to work more closely with existing networks in Charlottesville, Richmond, Falls Church, and Petersburg, and to expand in Hampton Roads and other parts of Virginia, the organization says. “I trust Angela and her team to be the deeply passionate advocates I’ve known them to be, and I trust them to use this gift to go where communities tell them to go and do what communities tell them they need,” said Smith.

In brief

More early birds than ever

UVA saw a 17 percent increase in early decision applications and a seven percent increase in early action applications from 2020 to 2021. The school eliminated its binding early decision option in 2006, in an effort to even the playing field for low-income students, but reinstated the option in 2019. This year, the school received 3,442 early decision applications and 31,152 early action applications. There was an increase in early applicants across all demographics, except for the Native American applicant pool, which had 28 applicants in this year’s and last year’s cycles. First-generation applications increased by 29 percent, and legacy applications went up by 2 percent.

City spokesman resigns

Three things in life are certain: death, taxes, and Charlottesville government officials resigning. The latest city employee to move on to greener pastures is communications director Brian Wheeler, who held the job for three years. Wheeler says he and his family plan to leave the Charlottesville area.

Brian Wheeler’s last day as Charlottesville’s director of communications is November 19. Staff photo

Progressive candidate joins Albemarle prosecutor’s office

Former Charlottesville commonwealth’s attorney candidate Ray Szwabowski has joined the Albemarle County CA’s office as a prosecutor. Szwabowski was a public defender before running for the city’s prosecutor job this summer, arguing that Charlottesville punishes those who have committed crimes too harshly. “I’m excited to have this outstanding lawyer join the team and help us move our progressive agenda forward,” says county CA Jim Hingeley.

Updated 11/18 to clarify the mission of the LAJC.

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False alarm?: CPD refutes racial profiling claims, calls on church leaders to “apologize or be terminated”

Leaders at the Unitarian Church on Rugby Road accused the police department of racial profiling in October. The police department denies the claim. PC: Staff photo

In October, leaders at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Charlottesville penned a blog post accusing the Charlottesville Police Department of racial profiling. According to the clergy, CPD unnecessarily detained and intimidated a Black congregant as he was walking to church.

On December 10, Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall Brackney held a press conference during which she shared body camera footage, and announced that an internal investigation conducted by her department found no evidence of police misconduct during the October 7 stop.

After sharing the results of the investigation, Brackney demanded that Unitarian church leaders “apologize or be terminated,” calling the church’s claims “baseless and race-baiting.” The press conference drew concern from activists in town, and placed renewed scrutiny on the department’s internal investigations policy.

Profiling incident

In an open letter released October 15, the clergy accused the department of harassing one of their church members, a 63-year-old Black man. According to the church, the man was allegedly surrounded by five police cars after a UVA student called the police on him while he was walking to church. The officers asked him what he was doing in the neighborhood, and demanded his social security number and identification, suspecting him of committing a recent series of break-ins.

The church claimed he looked nothing like the photo of the suspect, but was still interrogated until a white church member came over to investigate the situation. The clergy called on the department to apologize to the man.

After reviewing the 911 call, radio transmissions, and body camera footage, and interviewing the parties involved, CPD’s internal affairs unit concluded that the church’s claims were false, said Brackney last Thursday.

According to audio and visual evidence, the 911 call that sparked the incident was not made by a UVA student, but a teenager. She claimed that a Black man was loitering on private property, and that he had previously broken into a neighbor’s house.

While standing on the sidewalk, the church member flagged down the responding officer because he had seen someone run into the house and assumed the homeowner had called the police. A second officer soon arrived on the scene, and explained he should not cut through private property to get to his church, in light of the recent break-ins.

Body camera footage showed that the church member, who had a tracheostomy and could not speak, was visibly upset. He believed the officers were accusing him of committing the break-ins, which they clarified they were not.

“The thing is, if I lived there, and somebody walks behind my house every day, it would make me nervous too,” said the second officer. “If you’re freaked out, and they’re freaked out, and the common denominator is not to walk through there, then why don’t we do that?”

When the man claimed the police were called because he was Black, the second officer, who is also Black, insisted “it [had] nothing to do with race,” and told the three detectives who arrived on the scene that the man was playing “the race card.” A church member later came over to check on the man, who was never detained or charged with a crime.

Press conference sparks strong feelings

The police department initiated an investigation into the incident after it received the letter from interim lead minister Reverend Dr. Linda Olson Peebles in October, but it wasn’t until a month later, when the letter was shared on Twitter, that the activist community took notice. In late November, the Defund Charlottesville Police Department Campaign and other advocacy groups penned an op-ed in the Cavalier Daily, calling for the firing of the officers involved in the alleged racial profiling incident.

During the press conference, Brackney fired back. The chief listed the names of the church members who signed the open letter, accusing them of leveraging “their privilege and self-serving agendas.” She also called for the activist groups who “co-signed this smear campaign” against CPD to issue apologies.

Shortly before the press conference, Peebles issued a statement to her congregation, expressing the church leadership’s concern over the investigation’s findings. She claimed there were “a number of discrepancies between the testimony of the police and the account of the church member,” but that the church member no longer wanted them to address the situation.

Peebles later said Brackney made “unfair accusations” about the church leadership during the press conference. She claimed the church leadership penned the letter after talking directly with the church member, and had him approve it before sending it to CPD. They also never asked for the officers to resign.

“We are disappointed…as it seems [CPD] has minimized our member’s experience, our concerns, and our right to ask for the police to respond to us without malice,” she stated.

In a statement released December 12, Defund CPD also criticized Brackney for her retaliatory rhetoric during the conference.

“Brackney [attempted] to publicly intimidate those who rightfully questioned and criticized the police,” read the statement. She “intended to discredit the voices and experiences of the Black community…and to silence anyone who might think of filing a complaint against the police in the future.”

Defund CPD demanded Brackney resign immediately for abusing her power, and called on City Council to take action.

Sarah Burke, a member of the city’s initial Police Civilian Review Board, hopes Brackney’s behavior will not deter local residents from filing complaints about police misconduct, which they can also send to the oversight board, with the department.

“When you have a press conference…where the narrative is so spun to be protective of police and critical of anybody who wants to report what they believe to be racial profiling, [that] is part of a bigger pattern of the way people have been silenced historically,” she says. “It begs the question of how impartial the police can be in investigating their own conduct.”

Internal affairs

Usually, the police department publishes the results of its internal investigations on its website, describing the outcome with a single word: sustained, unfounded, exonerated, or not resolved. The department found the church’s racial profiling complaint to be unfounded.

The internal affairs data on the police department’s website was last updated on September 28 of this year, and from January 1 to September 28, the department opened 28 internal investigations. Ten were sustained, meaning the officer “acted in violation of applicable procedures.”

The results of the department’s internal accountability procedures don’t always align with outside sources’ assessments of the incidents.

After officer Jeffrey Jaeger, who is white, slammed a Black man’s head into a fence while responding to a verbal dispute in March, he filed a use-of-force report and was cleared by the department. But when body camera footage from the incident was shown during a trial in July, a complaint was filed with CPD concerning potential criminal wrongdoing. Charlottesville Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania reviewed the case and ordered a full-scale investigation, charging Jaeger with misdemeanor assault and battery.

On December 11, Jaeger was found guilty, and handed a 12-month suspended sentence and two years of unsupervised probation, meaning he will not spend time in jail. He appealed his conviction to the Charlottesville Circuit Court, and currently is on administrative leave without pay. As things stand now, the police department’s examination of the incident cleared an officer who was later convicted by a court of law.

In its internal affairs data, the department does not explain the reason for each case ruling, or disclose which disciplinary measures were taken against the officers found guilty of violating department policy, or the law.

The “opacity” of internal affairs investigations has long been a concern for many community members and activists, says Maisie Osteen, a civil rights attorney for the Legal Aid Justice Center.

“In so many cases, the problem [is] the process being so impermeable to citizens being a part of it and understanding it. The public only knows what the police want us to know,” she says, “What comes out of the investigation is a curated lens from the police department—good or bad.”

Osteen has also seen many people hesitate to file police complaints because they are afraid they won’t get taken seriously, nothing will be done, or they’ll face retribution.

“What’s going on right now is showing how necessary it is to create a robust police civilian oversight board,” she says. “[It] adds legitimacy and accountability to both the peoples’ understanding of what’s going on, and the police internal investigations.”

Community activist Walt Heinecke also feels that the internal investigations process has been “pretty tightly held,” especially given the limited advisory role currently afforded to the Civilian Review Board.

Heinecke ultimately hopes that the church member who filed the complaint will appeal it so it can be reviewed by the CRB. (The board will be allowed to independently receive and investigate complaints with subpoena power when new state criminal justice reforms go into effect next year.)

“There may be another version of the story that is possible from a larger review by the [CRB], if asked to review the case, of evidence beyond the edited version presented,” says Heinecke. “If that does not happen, the mistrust of the police by some in the community may be exacerbated.”

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In brief: Sheffield resigns, Fellini’s closes, and more

Brad Sheffield PC: Amy and Jackson Smith

In brief

Fellini’s closing

Yet another Charlottesville business has been shuttered by the coronavirus. Last week, the owners of downtown Italian restaurant and music venue Fellini’s announced that December 19 would be the spot’s final day. “We literally tried EVERYTHING,” reads a post on the restaurant’s Facebook page. The owners report that they asked the city to use the sidewalks for outdoor dining, but were not allowed to do so.

Turnover continues

The list of high-profile departures from Charlottesville this year just keeps getting longer. After six years as CEO of Jaunt, Brad Sheffield resigned last week, wanting to take the “next steps” in his career, reports The Daily Progress. Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall Brackney is also eyeing a new job—last week, she was selected as one of seven finalists for police chief of Dallas. The new chief is expected to be selected by January 1.

Cut the check

For months, thousands of Virginians have been waiting to receive their badly needed unemployment benefits. After the Legal Aid Justice Center, Virginia Poverty Law Center, and other legal partners threatened the Virginia Employment Commission with a class action lawsuit last month, nearly 80,000 people are now receiving payments while their claims continue to be reviewed.

_________________

Quote of the week

“With this remarkable medical achievement, we are beginning
to see the light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.”

—Governor Ralph Northam, as vaccine distribution begins

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At risk: Evictions could increase, as moratorium nears expiration

Caroline Klosko, a housing attorney for the Legal Aid Justice Center, fears many local residents could be evicted once the CDC eviction moratorium expires on December 31. PC: Zack Wajsgras

While Congress continues to debate a much-needed coronavirus relief package—almost nine months after the first one was passed—nearly 40 million renters nationwide might soon be forced out of their homes, as the Centers for Disease Control’s ban on evictions approaches its expiration date.

On December 31, the CDC’s eviction moratorium will end, and the supplemental protections passed by the state in November will weaken, leaving thousands of Virginians struggling to pay rent. Currently, Virginia landlords are only allowed to proceed with an eviction if tenants refuse to apply for local or state rent relief. Once the calendar turns, landlords will still be required to help tenants file for relief, but they will be allowed to file an eviction suit if a tenant is denied aid or does not receive it within 45 days.

“It’s unclear yet how effective that’s going to be,” says Emma Goehler, chair of the Charlottesville Democratic Socialists of America’s Housing Justice Committee, emphasizing the numerous hiccups tenants may face throughout the relief application process.

And these protections will only last as long as there is government funding for rent relief. Once it runs out, struggling renters will have nothing to fall back on.

“The legislation wants to protect landlords, to make sure they’re able to get tenants in there who can pay,” says Caroline Klosko, a housing attorney for the Legal Aid Justice Center, which has been taking on eviction cases throughout the pandemic. “[But] with the state of the rent relief funds, and the problems with administering it, that’s just dangerous.”

According to Klosko, it is currently difficult to gage whether another state or federal moratorium will be put in place, one that would prevent tenants unable to get adequate financial assistance from being kicked out of their homes.

“If the CDC moratorium is just allowed to run out and not be extended, or even if there is a several week gap between the [expiration] and Biden coming into office, we’re really worried about the effects, with COVID spiking in the wintertime,” she says.

The national ban on evictions has been crucial, explains Goehler. Since it went into effect on September 4, DSA and LAJC have helped many local tenants get their hearings pushed to January.

Even so, these prevention measures have not kept everyone in their homes. Since September, landlords have filed for 106 evictions in Charlottesville, and 16 people or families have been removed from their houses. In Albemarle, 230 filings have led to 41 evictions.

“The moratorium was never a perfect solution because it required tenants to know about it, and it also had a number of requirements that tenants had to meet to be eligible,” explains Goehler, pointing to the declaration form tenants must fill out and present to their landlord.

With winter weather making evictions even more dangerous, DSA and LAJC plan to continue to push for long-term solutions, including additional funding for rent and mortgage relief, and a moratorium on all evictions until the pandemic ends, says Klosko.

In the meantime, Goehler urges tenants facing eviction to show up to their hearings, as well as apply for assistance through the Charlottesville Community Resource Helpline (326-0950) and Virginia Rent and Mortgage Relief Program (703-962-1884).

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Designed to deceive: Nefarious bail bond company tied to demonstration outside justice center

Charlottesville’s Legal Aid Justice center was the site of a dubious protest last week. PC: Staff photo

Around 7pm on November 10, a city resident was surprised to see a cluster of 20 to 30 sign-carrying protesters and a film crew gathered near the Legal Aid Justice Center.

While stopped at the traffic light near the LAJC, the resident says an unmasked, college-aged woman approached his car window and asked if he supported immigrants’ rights. When he said yes, she delivered a “spiel,” claiming that the renowned justice center was “hurting immigrants.” She handed him a flier with the heading “LAJC BEWARE” and a call to “report abuse” at the url bewarelajc.com. The site shows a reproduction of the flier and offers a host of broken links.

The protesters have connections with Nexus Services, a Harrisonburg, Virginia-based immigration bail bond company with a well-documented history of illegal practices. Though Nexus is not mentioned on the flier or the website, Nexus Services owns the domain bewarelajc.com, and when pressed, admitted to helping the protesters get organized.

In August 2019, LAJC filed suit against Nexus on behalf of a group of clients who allege they were the victims of a “fraudulent immigration bond scheme” that “preys on immigrants in federal detention centers.” The attorneys general in three states, including Virginia, have investigated the company in recent years.

Legal Aid said it was aware of the event but declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation.

“The signs were clearly made in one place, by one person,” says the area resident who was approached by the protesters.  “That’s not how protests work. In grassroots protests, people like to make [homemade] signs. These were printed, but they were clearly trying to make them look like they were grassroots.”

Another witness who is familiar with the work of LAJC had similar reservations: “The signs said something along the lines of ‘LAJC is anti-immigrant.’ I certainly would not characterize the people there as anti-immigrant, so [the protest] was pretty shocking and strange.”

Nexus initially denied involvement in the protest. “The organizers were actually a group of young people (independent of Nexus) who are active in social justice,” wrote Heather Wilson, a Nexus public relations representative.

After C-VILLE asked why Nexus owned the associated website domain, which was created on November 10, Wilson changed her tune, saying that “Nexus helps set up advocacy websites all the time and the website was provided to the kids as part of their social justice work.”

Searches show that Nexus Services owns dozens of domain names, the majority of which are inactive variations on the word Nexus.

Anna Lohmiller, one of the demonstrators who participated in the event outside LAJC, claims that the group, called The System, is creating a reality TV show. “We go around and we gather information on certain cases that we believe there’s been injustices,” she says. She echoes the allegations on the flier, accusing LAJC of filing false affidavits on behalf of an immigrant who did not understand English.

The System, which currently has eight members, is not a part of Nexus, explains Lohmiller. However, Nexus president Mike Donavon is the lead producer for the show and an advisor to the group.

“He mentors us on a ton of different cases, and he just provides us with some basic knowledge about stuff that’s going on,” Lohmiller says.

Because the group is “just starting out with this,” Nexus also provided them with a domain for their website for free, she adds.

Lohmiller claims that LAJC’s lawsuit against Nexus has nothing to with her Nexus-affiliated group’s decision to protest LAJC. “We don’t independently base our decisions on what Nexus does,” she says.

One of the people who saw the protest in action has a different theory.  “I can only guess that they hired fake protesters, and they’re trying to smear the [LAJC],” the witness says.

Last year, LAJC sued Nexus for more than $1 million on behalf of six Central American immigrants, who accused the company of coercing detained immigrants into signing long-term contracts—written mostly in English—that cover their bail through third-party bondsmen. The contracts also force the immigrants, once released, to pay $420 per month for GPS ankle monitoring, plus other fees. The location tracking practice is not required by immigration authorities.

In other states over a period of years, numerous immigrants have accused Nexus of swindling them into predatory terms and conditions they didn’t understand, giving them ankle monitors that burst into flames, and forcing them into insufferable living conditions. Those unable to keep up with payments have reported being threatened with detention or deportation. (As an unlicensed middleman, Nexus has no authority to deliver immigrants to ICE, or force them to attend court hearings.)

“[Nexus] attempts to camouflage its practices by casting itself as a champion of immigrants…when in reality its scheme traps desperate immigrants into paying thousands of dollars, often in amounts far exceeding their bond,” says the LAJC lawsuit. “[This] scheme has siphoned more than $100 million from some of the most vulnerable immigrants and their communities.”

Because ICE requires its excessive bail prices, set as high as $60,000, to be paid by someone with legal status, many detained immigrants—if they are even allowed to post bail—have no choice but to turn to companies like Nexus for freedom, or remain imprisoned until their hearing, which can take months or years.

The lawsuit ultimately contends that Nexus should not be allowed to exist at all. Because Nexus acts as a middleman, rather than dispensing the bonds itself, it cannot be regulated by the federal and state laws that apply to licensed insurance and bail bond agencies. Therefore, it can charge clients heavily inflated prices.

Donovan has publicly condemned the lawsuit, claiming that it is full of “outright lies,” and misconstrues the company’s business model. He’s also accused LAJC of using the plaintiffs for “exposure.”

In 2009, while volunteering for Mike Signer’s unsuccessful lieutenant governor campaign, Donovan and his now-husband Richard Moore landed themselves five months in jail. The pair had rented out rooms and office space under fake names at hotels, and failed to pay the tens of thousands of dollars in bills.

In interviews, Donovan has claimed his months in jail led him to get involved in the bond business. Because of their felonies, he and Moore are prohibited from getting licensed as bondsmen, so they decided to become middlemen.

According to LAJC’s lawsuit, the couple formally established Nexus Services, Inc. in 2013. It has since grown to have more than 30 offices in eight states, with over 6,000 clients.

Since The Washington Post published a story in 2017 exposing the struggles faced by company’s clients, Nexus has been investigated by a string of state and federal government agencies. Last year, the state of Virginia threatened to shut down the company.

In recent months, Nexus has been active in other industries as well. This March it provided funding, described as “pandemic relief,” to the Shenandoah Valley Militia and Citizens Response Unit, a gun rights, anti-government group.

“Americans are being told to stay in their homes, being placed on mandatory lockdowns, and in some places threatened with jail if they violate those orders. This is not America and it’s surely not freedom,” said Donovan, whose company has reportedly violated the rights of undocumented immigrants.

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Real power: New state law drastically expands CRB’s role

Protesters gather in front of City Hall to demand more power for the Police Civilian Review Board. PC: Zack Wajsgras

For more than a year, the Charlottesville Police Civilian Review Board and Charlottesville City Council have been locked in a dispute over how much power the recently established law enforcement oversight board should have. But clarity is coming soon, thanks to new legislation from the Virginia General Assembly.

Over the course of nearly 12 weeks this fall, Virginia lawmakers passed a string of criminal justice reforms, sparked by the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement. The assembly’s new Democratic majority brought a variety of progressive changes to policing in Virginia—including allowing for civilian review boards with real power, a common request from activists seeking reform nationwide. The changes will take effect July 1, 2021, giving lawmakers time to expand the bill to include sheriff’s departments.

“We can pass as many laws as we want governing law enforcement behavior, but this is the one that ensures that there is meaningful oversight and accountability if things do miss the mark,” Delegate Sally Hudson told the CRB during its November 12 virtual meeting.

In June, the CRB voted to expand its own powers, adopting a set of bylaws that were drawn up by an initial panel of activists and experts last year. At that point, City Council delayed approving the decision until the legislative session had concluded.

In stark contrast to the CRB’s current limited advisory role, the new reforms will allow the board to receive and investigate complaints involving police officers or department employees, with the power to subpoena documents and witnesses. If the accused party is found guilty, the board can issue a binding disciplinary ruling for cases “that involve serious breaches of departmental and professional standards,” including demotion, suspension without pay, or termination.

Outside of these duties, the CRB will be able to review all of CPD’s internal affairs investigations and issue its own findings on each ruling. It will also have the power to request reports on the department’s annual expenditures and suggest changes—answering local activists’ recent calls for transparency on CPD’s whopping $18 million budget.

Under the new law, the CRB will evaluate CPD’s practices, policies, and procedures, and recommend improvements. If the department does not implement the changes, the board can require it to issue a public written statement explaining its reasoning.

The CRB’s Vice Chair Will Mendez later expressed frustration over the stipulations put on the board’s law enforcement representative, a position currently held by Phillip Seay. He is able to provide guidance but not vote on decisions, under both the board’s current ordinance and the new state legislation.

“The community didn’t want law enforcement members to vote, because there’s always been a problem with police getting off,” responded Legal Aid Justice Center organizer Harold Folley during public comment. ”We felt like it would be the same way with the [CRB], where the police officer would have bias. …It’s unfortunate that y’all are pushing that.”

As the CRB waits for the bill to take effect, members will use the powerful provisions to revise the board’s existing ordinance and bylaws, which must be approved by City Council. With the bill’s enactment date just seven months away, CRB members agreed to meet twice a month.

“The worrisome part of it for me is having the support of City Council,” said member Dorenda Johnson. “Even with what has been passed, I am just truly hoping that they will be able to and are willing to help us the way that they should.”

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Know your rights: Housing activists work to prevent evictions

Charlottesville Democratic Socialists of America volunteers and supporters assisted around a dozen tenants who were facing eviction at the Albemarle County Courthouse last Thursday. PC: Staff Photo

For months, a state eviction moratorium prevented tenants from being forced out of their homes for not paying rent. But at the beginning of this month, the Virginia Supreme Court declined to extend the ban before it expired September 7, pointing to a new Centers for Disease Control order prohibiting evictions until the end of the year.

However, the CDC moratorium is “opt-in,” explains Emma Goehler, chair of the Charlottesville Democratic Socialists of America’s Housing Justice Committee. “You have to know about it, meet certain criteria, and fill out a declaration form in order to be eligible for it,” which must be presented to your landlord.

Last Thursday, Goehler and other DSA volunteers assisted around a dozen tenants in front of the Albemarle County Courthouse, where more than 30 unlawful detainer and eviction cases were on the docket.

“It should be a comprehensive moratorium, but in practice it’s been less people knowing about it. There really hasn’t been much effort to disperse information from the federal government,” says Goehler. “So that’s where we’ve been stepping in.”

According to the CDC, the moratorium only applies to tenants who expect to earn no more than $99,000 in annual income—or no more than $198,000 if filing a joint tax return—this year, and who are unable to pay their rent due to loss of household income (or extraordinary out-of-pocket medical expenses). Tenants must also swear that they’re making their “best efforts” to obtain government assistance, and pay as much of their rent as possible, under penalty of perjury.

Those who are not protected by the CDC moratorium may still get a 60-day extension if they show up to court with written evidence that they have lost income due to the pandemic.

But since the state moratorium was lifted on September 8, five eviction judgments have been made against tenants in Charlottesville, and 19 have been made in Albemarle County, most likely because the tenants did not know about the moratorium, or they did not attend their hearings.

Because tenants will still face eviction if they do not pay off their rent debt before the moratorium ends, DSA is working to connect them with various assistance resources, like the Emergency Rent and Mortgage Relief Program hotline.

In the meantime, DSA hopes the Virginia General Assembly will pass more comprehensive legislation canceling all rent debt and removing eviction filings from tenants’ housing records.

“The fact that you’ve had an eviction filing…[makes] it harder for you to find housing in the future,” says Goehler.

According to the Legal Aid Justice Center, the current language surrounding evictions in the proposed budgets in the state House and Senate needs a lot of improvement.

“[It] doesn’t stop landlords from evicting people in the midst of a global health pandemic for minor lease violations, such as having a guest stay too long. Even the protections it provides for tenants who aren’t able to pay their rent aren’t strong enough,” says Communications Director Jeff Jones.

“However, there are still several steps left in the budget process,” he says. “We look forward to continuing to work with legislators to ensure that all tenants can remain safely in their homes until the present health emergency ends.”

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Horrible history: New report details racist past, next steps for Charlottesville housing

Activists hope Charlottesville will build new public housing, like Westhaven, pictured above. Photo: Jack Looney

 

Charlottesville has an affordable housing crisis: that’s not exactly breaking news. Local activists have been working for years to elevate the issue, and the city government has become more and more responsive. The most recent city budget devotes $31.2 million over five years to various affordable housing initiatives. (The city has announced it will have to delay the budget process and find $5 million to cut to account for the economic effects of the coronavirus.)

The work is far from over, though, as evidenced by a new report from the Charlottesville Low Income Housing Coalition. The Impact of Racism on Affordable Housing in Charlottesville chronicles the past, present, and future of this crisis. (The full 93-page report can be viewed here.)

“More than 50 people have touched this report at some point,” says Elaine Poon, an attorney with the Legal Aid Justice Center and one of the document’s co-authors. “It’s been a pretty big labor of love for the group.”

The report’s most moving component is an extensive survey of residents of historically black neighborhoods in town. Their testimonies lay bare the causes and effects of gentrification: “I work three jobs every day, pay taxes, and can’t seem to purchase a home in a place that is supposed to be an affordable housing area,” one anonymous respondent said.

“The waiting lists for housing are really long. Me and my baby were basically homeless, even though I was working full-time. It took a really long time for us to find anything,” says another.

“The Black population has to move because they don’t make enough to sustain themselves in the city,” says another commenter.

“Sixty years later we are still being treated like we’re prisoners. But our only crime is that we didn’t invest our money, because we didn’t have any money to invest.”

The list of quotes like these goes on and on.

Gloria Beard, who has lived in 10th and Page for 46 years, echoes the anonymous comments in the report.

“You know the price that they put on these houses once they remodel them? If I left today or tomorrow, I could never come back to this neighborhood—which I called mine at one time,” Beard says. “Now it doesn’t even feel like a neighborhood. I come from a time when we knew our neighbors. We sat on the porch and hollered at each other. That doesn’t happen anymore.”

The report includes a section that traces the racist history of the housing crisis over the last century. Charlottesville voted to legally segregate the city in 1912. Once that was declared unconstitutional, individual deeds prohibiting the sale of houses to non-caucasian people became the norm. An early Charlottesville zoning map, which has not changed much in the last 60 years, was drawn by the design firm of Harland Bartholomew, a well-known and influential city planner whose strategies legally entrenched segregation in cities across the nation. In 1964, the city razed predominantly black Vinegar Hill, citing “slum clearance.”

“Charlottesville has a long history of intentionally zoning neighborhoods to segregate based on race and class and to limit the ability of low-income people of color to build wealth through property ownership,” the report says.

“[10th and Page] became a black neighborhood because the white people didn’t want us to live in their neighborhood,” Beard says. “Now here they come, all of them coming, from miles around, out of town, buying these houses.”

Poon says the report will be handed over to the consultants who have been charged with rewriting Charlottesville’s zoning code, and she thinks it will show them the “journey we’ve already been on as a city.” She also says aspiring local activists have often asked her group for “somewhere I can look to catch up to speed” on the thorny and complicated issue, and thinks this report will provide a good starting point.

“People know this information. At this point it’s really just a compendium, just putting it all in one place,” Poon says.

The report’s final section suggests steps that Charlottesville can take to continue to address the issue. Some of them are relatively straightforward—it re-emphasizes that members of low-income communities need to be involved in decision-making about low-income housing. The report also says the city ought undergo an internal staff review of all new projects from an equity lens, and include that information in councilors’ packets about new projects. In addition, the city is urged to define “affordable” more narrowly, targeting relief to those most affected.

At the same time, this huge problem will need huge solutions, and the report asks for those, as well. It advocates for various forms of reparations for black families. It says the zoning code rewrite should include “restricting by-right development to affordable units for extremely low-income people,” meaning in most of the city, all new construction that wasn’t low-income housing would need council approval. The report advocates for pro bono representation in eviction hearings as a way of combating homelessness, and pushes Charlottesville to institute rent control.

Some of these policies, like rent control, will not be possible without state approval or a repeal of the Dillon Rule. “Enacting rent control might be possible in Charlottesville someday, though it will take an immense amount of advocacy,” the report says.

Poon thinks this document can be part of that advocacy. “The community at large needs to understand the why, so that those big picture issues are more understandable,” she says. “When someone reads some of the history, it’s very difficult for me to imagine not wanting dramatic change after reading that.”

 

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Funding fight: City and school board struggle with budget as statewide activism gathers steam

Activists hold signs over the bypass to advocate for increased state investment in public schools. Photo: John Robinson

“FUND OUR SCHOOLS” read the twinkling electric signs over the Dairy Road footbridge on the evening of January 29. Students, parents, teachers, and activists held the individual letters, making the simple demand that the state devote more money to public education. The message was met with a stream of supportive honks from drivers on the 250 Bypass below. 

“We’re in this exciting moment where Democrats have control in both chambers,” said Brionna Nomi, education organizer at the Legal Aid Justice Center, which coordinated the demonstration. “So we’re hoping to make some movement on state funding legislation for public schools.”

In particular, the group supports bills in both the House of Delegates and State Senate that would repeal public education spending limits put in place after the 2008 recession.

The Charlottesville protest comes less than a week after hundreds of teachers from around the state rallied in Richmond to make similar demands. In Virginia, the state holds power over cities and counties when it comes to generating revenue and dispensing funds. Nomi says local districts have to pick up the slack for what the state does not provide, and that’s an undue burden. “We need to generate more revenue, and we believe that that’s the responsibility of legislators,” she says.

That burden was on display last week when the Charlottesville City School Board presented its annual budget request to City Council and the city manager. 

In part because of state funding cuts, the board requested a budget increase of $4.5 million. But City Manager Tarron Richardson said he’d hoped the figure would be more like $2.1 million. 

The city is trying to cut back its own budget, and the disparity between the school’s request and the city’s anticipated number is significant. “I want to help as much as we can, but that additional two-plus million will really impact us in terms of trying to close our gap,” Richardson said. 

The city increased the school’s budget by $2.7 million in fiscal year 2019 and $3.4 million in fiscal year 2020, for a total of $57 million last year.

The school district’s request provides for the creation of a handful of new positions, including an additional orchestra instructor for Walker Upper Elementary, where one conductor currently teaches 199 students, and a “specialist for annual giving,” a new position that would solicit philanthropic contributions to the public schools. “That’s a position the board has desired for quite a number of years,” said Superintendent Rosa Atkins.

Hundreds of students are enrolled in a new engineering program at Walker, but Buford Middle School doesn’t have sufficient engineering faculty, so the district also hopes to hire someone to keep the program running as those students transition schools.

But the bulk of the requested budget increase—$2.8 of the $4.5 million—would go toward insurance and salaries for teachers and staff. “We are in the people business,” said school board member Jennifer McKeever. “So much of this is so they continue to be insured and able to live around here.”

Charlottesville’s skyrocketing property values have serious effects on the schools. Teachers need to earn more to live here comfortably, and the school district receives less funding from the state. 

Virginia distributes money based on each district’s relative need, measured through a metric called Local Composite Index. LCI takes into account the value of property owned by each school district, and this year, CCS’s property value increased “about 23 percent,” according to Atkins. In the eyes of the state, CCS is less needy than other localities and will therefore receive less state money. That’s one reason the district’s request to the city was higher than Richardson’s ideal figure.

Council will have to work with the schools and the city manager’s office to close the gap between Richardson’s number and CCS’s request.

“I don’t have too many comments at this time, because we haven’t received the full presentation on our budget,” said Mayor Nikuyah Walker at the work session. “Once we have that meeting I’ll have a better understanding. Just in case people are wondering why I’m quiet.” 

Those discussions will continue through the spring, but according to Atkins, the budget may not be finalized until June.

Meanwhile, the long-term future of the district includes a major school reconfiguration. Buford will expand to include sixth graders, elementary schools will add fifth grade, and Walker will become a citywide preschool. The district plans on hiring an architectural firm this month, but there won’t be a cost estimate for the project until 2021. 

The city allocated $3 million to the project in its five-year Capital Improvement Plan, but some early estimates say the reconfiguration could cost as much as $58 million. 

“We will not know how much the project will cost until it gets at least partially through the design process,” says Michael Goddard, a senior project manager with the city. “As of the present, no funds have been allocated for construction of the project. It will be up to city leadership to direct funding for construction.”

 

Correction 2/5: Updated to reflect that the city has not yet hired a design firm for the school reconfiguration process.