Karl
“LSGMI helped me get the medical treatment I need.”
Nine year-old Karl’s application for SSI disability benefits was denied. An Administrative Law Judge upheld the denial because Karl’s mother did not get him consistent medical treatment. An LSGMI attorney successfully appealed the case, arguing that Karl’s mother had provided adequate medical treatment considering her financial circumstances. The case was remanded and Karl won his case at the second hearing. He was awarded retroactive benefits totaling $38,364 and now receives the maximum benefits and Medicaid.
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HOUSING ADVOCACY
EXAMPLES OF CASES WE HANDLE INCLUDE:
- Home ownership problems including foreclosure and predatory lending
- Public, subsidized, emergency and transitional housing
- Representation of tenants in select landlord-tenant cases
- Information and referral for private tenants through the Renters Education and Advocacy Legal Lines
- Mobile home problems
- Help for organizations and individuals to create, preserve, and rehabilitate affordable housing
PROJECTS
Affordable Housing Advocacy Project
Community Economic Development Project
Mortgage Foreclosure Defense Project
Predatory Lending Project
Renters Education and Advocacy Legal Line (REAL)
Tenants’ Rights Project
Affordable Housing Advocacy Project
The Affordable Housing Project was established to address the housing crisis in Miami-Dade County. The Project advocates for the preservation and development of affordable housing for low and very low income people residing in Miami-Dade County. The Project has two main components.
- Preserve affordable housing complexes that are in danger of being lost due to:
- Uninhabitable conditions
- Landlords threatening conversion to condominium or sale to a private developer
- Expiration of subsidized federal funding
- Demolition or abandonment of publicly funded properties.
- Increase development and production of additional housing units that are affordable to low and very low income residents of the target area through legal and policy advocacy.
This Project is funded in part by The Florida Bar Foundation.
Community Economic Development Project
The Community Economic Development Project provides free legal assistance to nonprofit community development corporations seeking to develop affordable housing and revitalize distressed neighborhoods, and has developed a long term, continuous relationship with its client organizations.
Many nonprofit organizations in Miami-Dade are engaged in a variety of activities including housing development, business development and commercial revitalization. They need high quality legal assistance in order to increase their capacity to engage in sophisticated economic development ventures.
It is very difficult for these organizations to obtain adequate legal assistance because they cannot afford the cost. More importantly, very few private attorneys have the expertise to provide the specialized representation required by these organizations. The Project fills this gap.
This Project is supported in part by Funding In Memory of Frances and Louis M. Jepeway.
Mortgage Foreclosure Defense Project
Low income homeowners in Florida are in crisis because the foreclosure rate is one of the highest in the nation. The Project is responding to this crisis by providing high-quality legal assistance and representation to homeowners faced with foreclosure. In addition to court representation, The Project partners with Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida to provide homeowners with alternatives to foreclosure. These include payment assistance, repayment plans, special forbearance, loan modification, refunding, compromise sales and private sales.
The Project also assists homeowners whose homes are at risk due to unfair practices by contractors and prevents the loss of homes due to lien foreclosures, supporting the retention of assets by low income residents and preventing their downward spiral into homelessness.
This Project is funded in part by Institute for Foreclosure Legal Assistance and NeighborWorks.
If your home is in foreclosure, please click here for valuable information.
EN ESPAÑOL
Informacion sobre la respuesta a un embargo hipotecario>
AN KREOLE
Klike la-a pou ou ka jwen on feye pou "foreclosure"/sezi
Click here for a flier on The House I am Renting is Being Foreclosed. Creole Español
Click here to view video on avoiding foreclosure rescue scams.
Countrywide borrowers to get settlement cash
Click here for full story.
Foreclosure Rescue Scam Prevention
The Federal Trade Commission produced the video "Real People, Real Stories" to help homeowners avoid foreclosure rescue scams.
Click here to view video.
LSGMI Staff Attorney Kimberly Sanchez Featured on Channel 2 Special on Mortgage Foreclosures
Click here to view the video.
LSGMI Senior Attorney Carolina Lombardi Featured on Channel 2 Discussing the Mortgage Foreclosure Crisis
Click here to view the video.
Predatory Lending Project
Elderly individuals and low income families are often the prime targets of illegal predatory lending and other unfair practices by lenders. Predatory lending is the practice of deceptively convincing borrowers to agree to unfair and abusive loan terms or systematically violating those terms in ways that make it difficult for the borrower to defend against. Often the goal of such lenders is to unfairly obtain ownership of a person’s home, rather than receive the normal payment of interest and principal. The Project uses the courts to protect low income people from these unscrupulous lenders, and prevents the loss of homes by helping these individuals and families rescind unfair mortgages, reduce interest rates, and return finance charges.
This Project is funded in part by Miami-Dade County.
Renters Education and Advocacy Legal Line (REAL)
This Project provides telephone advice to tenants with private housing matters. The Project advises tenants on issues such as how to defend their eviction case, request return of their security deposit, and demand repairs of their rental property. The Project also provides tenants with self-help materials which assist them in resolving their problem.
This Project is funded in part by Miami Coalition for the Homeless, Camillus House and the Dade Community Foundation.
Click here for a flier on Tenant Rights and Responsibilities
Click herefor information on Renters Education and Advocacy
Click here for a flier on How to Prepare and File an Answer. Creole | Español
Click here for a flier on The House I am Renting is Being Foreclosed. Creole | Español
Tenants’ Rights Project
The Tenants’ Rights Project provides representation to tenants facing eviction from rental housing. Priority is given to evictions involving tenants living in government subsidized housing.
This Project is funded by the Legal Services Corporation.
Click here for a flier on Tenant Rights and Responsibilities
Click here for a flier on How to Prepare and File an Answer. Creole | Español
Click here for a flier on The House I am Renting is Being Foreclosed. Creole | Español
There are many ways to support LSGMI’s work. You can make a donation online or call our office at 305-438-2501 to learn more about other ways to support Equal Justice in South Florida.
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