Tulsa Area United Way funding upstart programs to offer new solutions to old problems

The winners include Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma, which will develop a mediation program to help families facing evictions to stay in their homes.

News Story (Oklahoma)

Michael Overall
Tulsa World
December 19, 2018
READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Tags: Housing: Eviction

Organizations mentioned/involved: Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma


DETAILS

Local landlords file more than 1,200 eviction cases a month, averaging 14,315 cases a year over the past decade. And Tulsa’s eviction rate now ranks No. 11 in the country, according to data from Eviction Lab, a nationwide research project based at Princeton University.

Legal Aid’s voluntary mediation process will begin with a paralegal’s assessing the situation, leading to negotiations between tenants and property owners.

“This grant is using what we know about human motivation and behavior,” said April Merrill, a Legal Aid coordinator, “to try to incentivize better relationships between landlords and tenants.”