Lone Star Legal Aid’s Jonna Treble Protects Veteran from Unfair Eviction During Heatwave

Kenneth Murray tried to pay his rent. The apartment complex wouldn’t take it. Then he got evicted – for not paying rent.

Mr. Murray is a 66-year-old veteran. He has a housing voucher from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The housing voucher works like this: Mr. Murray can only afford $277 per month. The apartment complex wants $975. The voucher makes up the difference: $698. It’s called a HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) voucher. It helps homeless veterans and their families. 

Everything was good at first. The apartment complex accepted the voucher through a direct deposit of $698 from the Houston Housing Authority (HHA) every month. Mr. Murray paid $277 at the front office. Sometimes the office was closed, so he came back when it was open. One time it was still closed. Then it stayed closed. Mr. Murray couldn’t pay his rent.

The management company disappeared!

Mr. Murray continued to live in the building. He saved his rent payments. He knew he would have to pay eventually. But after six months, Mr. Murray got a bill for $5,645. He knew he owed several months rent, but he didn’t owe anything close to $6,000! Mr. Murray visited the LSLA Help Desk at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Medical Center in Houston. He met Nicole Ketchum, a paralegal with Lone Star Legal Aid’s Military and Veterans Unit, during their weekly Tuesday office hours at the VA. Ms. Ketchum took Mr. Murray’s information and connected him with Staff Attorney Jonna Treble.

Slowly, Ms. Treble unraveled the story. She looked at Mr. Murray’s records and contacted HHA to get the voucher records. It was true, Mr. Murray had not paid in six months. He was behind by about $1,800. But the HHA deposited his HUD-VASH voucher of $698 every month. Why did they say he owed $5,645?

Ms. Treble was just starting to understand, but then it got worse. Mr. Murray was evicted.  

“YOU ARE COMMANDED to appear for trial on 8/13/2024 at 9:00am,” the eviction notice read.

Most people go to eviction court alone – without a lawyer, but Kenneth Murray was in good shape. He already had a lawyer. Mr. Murray and Ms. Treble went to court together. When they stood in front of the Judge, Ms. Treble explained everything. The Judge got mad! The Judge wasn’t mad at Mr. Murray or Ms. Treble. She was mad at the apartment complex executives. 

“We met with the judge in a brief hearing yesterday,” Ms. Treble wrote in her notes. “It became obvious from about 20 other cases, that the property had closed the office. Now the property is under new management. They are simply evicting people.”

The judge granted a “continuance.” In other words, she told everyone to go home and come back in two weeks. That gave Mr. Murray and Ms. Treble more time. Ms. Treble turned to the VA for help. She contacted Mr. Murray’s case worker at BakerRipley, a local nonprofit. The caseworker was able to get a different voucher for Mr. Murray.

Mr. Murray moved into a new apartment. The sad thing is: he still has an eviction on his record. Next time he tries to rent an apartment, the landlord will reject him. His name will be connected to this eviction. Ms. Treble knows Mr. Murray will be punished – even though he did nothing wrong. To help him in the future, she wrote an official letter and gave it to Mr. Murray. “Show this to the next landlord when you apply for housing,” she said. “The letter explains everything.”

“Mr. Murray didn’t do anything wrong,” Ms. Treble said. “He was evicted because the apartment complex messed up. He didn’t mess up. If I wasn’t there, they would have kicked him out for no reason. It was the middle of summer. It was over 100 degrees. He could have died on the streets.”

Lone Star Legal Aid (LSLA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit law firm focused on advocacy for low-income populations by providing free legal education, advice, and representation. LSLA serves millions of people at 125% of federal poverty guidelines, who live in 72 counties in the eastern and Gulf Coast regions of Texas, and 4 counties in Southwest Arkansas. To learn more about Lone Star Legal Aid, visit our website at www.LoneStarLegal.org. 

Media contact: media@lonestarlegal.org