Training Developed & Provided by Innovation for Justice
Housing instability impacts individuals and communities throughout the state. Housing Stability Community Justice Advocates work with tenants to evaluate their situation and provide legal assistance.
Housing instability disproportionately impacts lower-income community members, the vast majority of whom are renters. For lower-income community members, housing is simply unaffordable. In Utah, there are about 31 affordable housing units for every 100 extremely lower-income renter households, and more than 75% of extremely low-income renters are paying more than half of their income on rent. (Source.) For severely rent-burdened households, one emergency or unexpected expense could result in eviction, displacement, and homelessness.
Tenants confronted with an inability to pay rent lack the resources and capacity to navigate and secure siloed social and legal services needed to maintain housing stability. i4J's Housing Stability Legal Advocates (HSLAs) are community members from the non-profit social service sector who obtain HSLA certification in the course and scope of their social service work, and embed upstream, trauma-informed, limited-scope legal advice related to housing issues in the delivery of their social services.
As limited-scope justice workers, HSLAs can:
1. Provide limited-scope legal advice in the course and scope of their social service work. For example, a caseworker at a community action agency or a human services campus who assists tenants in securing food and/or applying for utility and rent assistance would also be able to identify tenants that are at risk of eviction and provide legal advice to reduce housing instability risk;
2. Not charge for their services–HSLA legal advice would be provided in the course and scope of free social services, not as a free-standing legal service; and
3. Be limited to providing HSLA services while employed by or volunteering with a non-profit social service organization - HSLAs would not be authorized to set up free-standing, for-profit legal service organizations.
Read more on Innovation for Justice's website: Housing Stability Legal Advocate Initiative
Now accepting applications.
Innovation for Justice's Housing Stability Legal Advocacy training is a self-paced, asynchronous course that requires approximately 55-65 hours to complete. During the training, advocates will receive training in the following areas:
Individuals interested in becoming a Housing Stability Community Justice Advocate must satisfy the following criteria:
Yes! Organizations are able to have multiple CJAs. Each CJA must complete the required training and report data. We must have a signed contract from every CJA.
i4J's programs are legal skill-building education programs. Employees who become Housing Stability CJAs continue in their social service role, and their legal training becomes an additional tool in their service toolbox for holistically meeting the needs of Utahns. We believe in an approach to legal services delivery that blends legal services with social and other services to provide more comprehensive care.
There is no requirement that Housing Stability CJAs provide only legal services, or that they provide legal services to every client. These skills are to be used when appropriate. However, if organizations want to have a position dedicated entirely to community justice work, that is allowed and welcome.
No, Housing Stability CJAs that also interface with people experiencing medical debt may also cross-train and obtain Medical Debt Legal Advocate training through i4J. Although concurrent enrollment is available, i4J and CJAU strongly recommend completion of one Community Legal Education course at a time.
Housing Stability CJAs will need time to 1) provide legal services, 2) report data to CJAU, and 3) attend training sessions. Additionally, it may be necessary for CJAU to meet with the CJA or their organization to address questions or concerns.
Innovation for Justice provides training at no cost to the advocate or their organization.
CJAU has a funder who is covering all costs for at least the first year of services, and we believe that we can continue to receive funding for at least the first two to three years. This funding includes all costs associated with overseeing advocates. In the future there may be a reasonable fee to use our services to cover the costs of oversight, including things such as staff time and malpractice insurance.
Innovation for Justice (i4J) is a virtual social justice innovation lab that creates new, replicable and scalable strategies for legal empowerment. Housed at both the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business and the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, i4J applies design- and systems-thinking methodologies to expose inequalities in the justice system, and designs, builds and tests disruptive solutions to the justice crisis. We are proud to be partnering with i4J to help scale their solutions throughout Utah.
Visit their website here to learn more about their approach to the justice crisis and their work to find effective solutions.
