Free Legal Aid at Santa Barbara’s FARO Center Helps Unhoused Community Members Get Back On Their Feet
Mina Wahab
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Anne Berry was evicted from her graduate student housing at UC Santa Barbara two months ago.
This is the first time she has experienced homelessness.
“They wouldn’t accept the student aid, I have documents of all of this and they wouldn’t even accept my scholarship as well,” said Berry.
She says she’s feeling more hopeful after sitting down with attorney Joseph Doherty.
Doherty says he’s seen every form of injustice imaginable — from wage theft and unlawful detainers to eviction and civil liability issues.
He sees roughly 8 people in a 3 hour period, but within those sessions he makes a lot of headway connecting his clients with the appropriate services.
He also helps those with criminal histories get their records expunged.
“People are telling us that they are now able to get a job, and they’re able to find the housing that they have been prevented from finding because of their criminal record. And that’s success. That’s helping somebody, you know, clear those barriers to housing and employment that often results in,” said Doherty.
The city is requiring the FARO center to switch to a referral-based or appointment-only model because of complaints from neighboring businesses.
But community members say this will ultimately impact who receives legal aid and help with housing.
“I don’t think that’s going to work at all. How in the world is an unhoused person going to make an appointment? I mean, do they have cell phones? Do they have computers? No,” said Mary Arnoult, who lives in Goleta.
Doherty says a lot of the people that he sees at the center are already dealing with several barriers to not only making appointments, but also keeping appointments.
“Whether it be their own mental health, transportation issues, their emergency crisis situation that requires speaking with an attorney today and not at some other other point. And so it’s really all about increasing access to try to help as many community members as possible,” said Doherty.
The FARO Center will be switching to an appointment only model on August 1st.
The Latest Breaking News, Weather Alerts, Sports and More Anytime On Our Mobile Apps. Keep Up With the Latest Articles by Signing Up for the News Channel 3-12 Newsletter.