SeniorLAW Center and our senior veteran client, Jep Livingston, appeared in a national story on civil legal aid for the poor. Mr. Livingston is a 69-year-old Vietnam veteran from Philadelphia, faced homelessness last year as the city moved to sell his longtime home after he defaulted on a plan to repay back property taxes. He defaulted, he said, because someone stole his wallet and drained his bank account, and he missed payments About to lose his home, Mr. Livingston came to SeniorLAW Center for legal help. His home, where he lived with his daughter and 5-year-old grandson, was saved. “It felt to me like I was in the middle of the ocean and they threw me a life raft.”
Read more here. We’re excited to be a part of the national movement for a civil right to counsel in areas of basic human need. Philadelphia is one of the leaders in our nation recognizing the dramatic difference an attorney makes when one is losing their home, kids, income, sustenance. Justice is not equal when one must navigate it alone.
SeniorLAW Center serves over 5,000 seniors each year with free legal representation, education and advocacy in a wide range of critical legal issues affecting seniors’ basic human needs. Our Homeowners Assistance Program provides housing-related legal assistance, access to justice, and focused, empowering legal education, information, and resources to protect the homes, health, safety and independence of elders. Our services have a dramatic and direct impact on the ability of low-income and vulnerable seniors to remain in their homes and communities, in safe, habitable homes, and to age with dignity and independence. We are the only nonprofit organization in Pennsylvania specifically dedicated to serving the legal needs of elders and elder homeowners. Read more about our H.A.P. (Homeowners Assistance Program) here.