Inner City Law Center has a hard-earned reputation as an effective legal organization fighting against Los Angeles’ slumlords.  Twenty-five years of legal victories have cemented this reputation.  But the work of ICLC is as diverse as its clients’ problems.  The team of advocates and lawyers offer services in addition to litigation.  These programs include:

Weingart Access Center
ICLC advocates staff an office at the Weingart Access Center in Downtown Los Angeles.  ICLC conducts intake at the Access Center, where advocates work with homeless and low-income people on a variety of cases including access to government benefits, landlord/tenant disputes, eviction defense, consumer issues, and referrals to other comprehensive service providers.

Rent Escrow Account Program (REAP)
When a rental unit is found to be uninhabitable and the landlord fails to act, the Los Angeles Housing Department will place the unit in REAP, order a rent reduction, and allow tenants to pay rent into an escrow account. The escrow account is used to make necessary repairs or to relocate the tenants. Under a contract with the city, ICLC Advocates visit properties in REAP to advise the tenants of their rights and explain the benefits of participation. ICLC maintains relationships with the tenants throughout the REAP process and reports information collected to the Housing Department.

Family Development Network (FDN)
The FDN is a network of providers that work together to provide services to low-income residents of Los Angeles.  These services include medical care, mental health counselling, child care, and financial counselling.  ICLC advocates provide government benefits services and tenant advocacy to clients in the network.

Healthy Homes for Families
Working in collaboration with the Coalition for Economic Survival (CES), ICLC is working to provide important information about the health implications of substandard housing.  Advocates advise tenants on actions they can take to lower any potential health risks, as well as providing information about MediCal, Healthy Families, and other low cost sources for medical services.

Bill Smith Homeless Veterans Project
As many as half of Los Angeles’ homeless are veterans.  Veterans are guaranteed certain important benefits including health care and disability, but the Veterans Administration can often be an unnavigable bureaucracy for the homeless.  In collaboration with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, ICLC is working to help get homeless veterans back on their feet.

Coming to ICLC for help:
Nearly all services of the ICLC advocates can be accessed at the Weingart Access Center at 506 South Main Street in Downtown Los Angeles.  Intake is conducted from 8:30 AM until 4:30 PM on weekdays.  For more information, call the Access Center office directly at (213) 833-5024.

Additional services are available at Inner City Law Center’s office at 1309 East 7th Street.  For more information or to refer anyone to Inner City Law Center for assistance, please call (213) 891-2880 from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM weekdays and ask for the Advocacy Team.