RALEIGH – Blanchard Community Law Clinic (BCLC) students recently worked to help a single Raleigh mother avoid homelessness.
Wesley Altman ‘26, Hannah Creighton ‘27 and Rayyan Hijazi ’27, students of the BCLC’s civil track, worked for a combined 10 months on the clinic’s longest ever eviction defense case. Their work was supervised by Assistant Clinical Professor Laura Clark.
The client, who resides in HUD subsidized housing, found BCLC students on a Friday in January 2025 while they were volunteering at the Wake County Legal Support Center located on the first floor of the Wake County Courthouse. The client had just come from small claims court where the magistrate ruled that she should be removed from her apartment. In the case, the landlord alleged that the client breached her lease more than two years prior by failing to comply with certain HUD annual recertification requirements.
The window to file an appeal of an eviction judgment is only 10 days, so Altman quickly assisted the tenant in filing an appeal in Wake County District Court, filed and argued emergency motions on her behalf and commenced the discovery process with the landlord through their attorney.
Over the summer, Creighton and Hijazi took over the case and gained extensive knowledge in HUD regulations and procedure relating to project-based Section 8 housing. After multiple rounds of discovery, it became apparent that the landlord made certain errors in the HUD recertification paperwork. The Clinic contacted an expert witness who later provided a detailed report confirming some of the client’s claims and defenses.
Throughout the course of the summer and fall, Altman, Creighton, and Hijazi engaged in settlement negotiations with the landlord’s attorney. Initially, it did not appear that the parties could reach a resolution and therefore, trial became imminent. Clark, Creighton and Hijazi put hours into prepping for trial while contemporaneously preparing the client in the event they did not prevail. Limiting her options was the client’s low income and a lack of affordable housing in the Raleigh area due to extensive or closed waitlists.
Not long after the BCLC turned over its expert witness report to opposing counsel pursuant to discovery requirements, the landlord presented the client with a proposed settlement agreement which was favorable to her.
Of the representation, the client stated, “the Clinic was sent to me from God” and that “there are no words that express my gratitude.”
Because the BCLC works with clients holistically to ensure they have access to benefits or essential care, our BCLC social work intern, Rachel Lea, a graduate Master’s in Social Work student at N.C. State University, is offering continuing support for the client’s ancillary needs.
“While the work experience I gained on this case was invaluable and unforgettable, this case highlighted to me the drastic need for more legal resources for people living in low income housing or facing eviction,” Creighton said. “Without our help, our client would have been homeless.”