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City native and attorney Khabirah Myers heads up the Office of Tenant Legal Services, which opened Wednesday. She has already met with residents since she was hired in April.
The office, which will work with attorneys offering their services for free, will assist low-income residents facing unwarranted or illegal evictions. More than half of Essex County’s evictions, about 20,000 a year, occur in Newark.
“In creating this office, we are working to strengthen our commitment to providing all Newark residents with quality affordable housing. We will not let abusive landlords have free reign to hound and harass tenants,” Mayor Ras Baraka said.
Over the last several years, abandoned factories have been converted into chic lofts and high-rise luxury apartment buildings have sprouted up, encouraging signs in a city that has been struggling for decades but at the same time sparking fears that rents will rise out of reach of lower-income families and individuals.
San Francisco and New York also offer free legal help in rent court, while other cities across the country are considering opening their own offices.
The Office of Tenant Legal Services is located at Room 111 in City Hall, 920 Kenneth A. Gibson Boulevard (the former Broad St.). The office is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information, call the Office of Tenant Legal Services at 973-733-3675 or contact them via email at otls@ci.newark.nj.us.
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