Rachel Lauter, Brown University '06

This summer I worked as a law clerk for Bay Area Legal Aid in Oakland, California. Bay Area Legal Aid is the largest provider of free legal civil services in the Bay Area, and the organization focuses on the substantive areas of housing, public benefits, family law, and health. I worked in the housing unit under a supervising attorney in the Alameda County office. The housing unit of Bay Legal seeks to prevent homelessness and preserve affordable housing by providing legal assistance for residents of public, private, and subsidized housing, including eviction defense and fair housing assistance.

As a law clerk I worked with existing clients, corresponded with Housing Authorities and private landlords, conducted legal research and drafted memos, drafted and filed several housing discrimination complaints to HUD. I also completed intakes to screen new clients. In one case, I was able to negotiate with the Housing Authority of the County of Alameda to accommodate my client’s disability (because of a physical and mental disability, this client needed to sleep in a separate room from her husband) and provide her with a three-bedroom Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8), instead of the two-bedroom voucher they had allocated to her. Because of the favorable outcome for my client, she and her family can now afford necessities like food and health care. I also helped draft and edit a self-help pamphlet on Section 8 to be given to clients, and I worked to organize a fair housing survey at a local apartment complex.

The experience of directly working with clients exposed me to the ways that urban policy affects individuals on a day-to-day basis. My time at Bay Legal was unique for me because it gave me a new perspective on public policy, a field that can easily become overly academic and sterilized. It was at Bay Legal that I met “Jane”-- a formerly homeless young single mother who lived in her car while caring for her two developmentally disabled sons and an uncle with Downs Syndrome. Jane, who spent months working tirelessly to find a home that she could afford with a government housing subsidy, epitomized what mainstream media and politicians callously dismiss as a “welfare mom.” Working with her and helping her navigate an opaque and daunting bureaucratic system has inspired me to commit my life to thinking of creative ways to make government policy more efficient, more humane. I was able to represent Jane at the Alameda County Homelessness and Caring Court, a community court program run by the Public Defender’s office which dismisses non-violent misdemeanor charges accrued by homeless and formerly homeless individuals. Jane’s driving offenses were dropped, and her license was reinstated, so she may now drive herself and her family safely to school and work.

I am currently a senior at Brown University, working on an Urban Studies Honors thesis. My thesis will examine federal funding for faith-based and community initiatives allocated by HUD to construct affordable housing and promote homeownership. Within two years I intend to apply to law school and master’s programs in Urban Planning.