Received 11/08/2021 Supreme Court Eastern District

Filed 11/08/2021 Supreme Court Eastern District

November 5, 2021

The Honorable Max Baer

Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

c/o Office of the Prothonotary

468 City Hall

Philadelphia, PA 19107

HLEDIN ,.

SUPREMl COURT

NOV 082021

EASTERN

DISTRICT

Re: Response in Support of Pennsylvania Supreme Court Order No. 21 EM 2020

Authorization for Continuation of the Philadelphia Municipal Court

Landlord-Tenant Diversion Program

Dear Justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania,

I am writing to request yoiir ongoing support for Philadelphia's nationally renowned use of

Alternative Dispute Resolution in eviction proceedings. I appreciate your leadership in

continuing to extend authority for Philadelphia to require landlords to apply for rental assistance

and participate m Philadelphia's pre-filing Eviction Diversion Program, most recently via your

Order dated October 28, 2021, No. 21 EM 2020.1 would like to request that you continue to

extend this authority beyond November 30, 2021.1 further request that you grant this authority to

other counties, so that residents there can also benefit from collaboration between the courts,

rental assistance, and other stabilizing measures. To do so, I respectfully request that you issue a

rule that allows a local coimty's President Judge to issue their own local rule creating or

coordinating with Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) procedures in eviction proceedings, if

they so choose.

I am a retired lawyer and have been volunteering as a mediator during the course of the

pandemic. The program has been invaluable in reducing the number of families that are left

homeless in the City of Philadelphia merely because their places of employment have been

shuttered. It was very sad to see the number of homeless individuals seeking shelter in the

underground areas of the transit system in Center City or sleepmg in doorways and park benches.

As a society, we need to address this issue and an extremely important step is to try as much as

possible to keep families m their existing homes. The housing counselors who are assigned to

each tenant in mediation work tirelessly to help find monies and assistance through various

programs available making for successful outcomes for landlords who also need payment in

order to meet their financial obligations. The process of mediation allows the parties themselves

to work out sustainable agreements in most cases.

To effectuate this, the following measures are used and authority needs to be extended:

Since April 1, 2021 Philadelphia Municipal Court has required that landlords apply for

rental assistance and participate in Philadelphia's Eviction Diversion Program before

filing an eviction case for non-payment of rent.

Philadelphia is seeking authority from the PA Supreme Court to extend this requirement

past its current expiration date Nov.30,2021.

Philadelphia's Eviction Diversion Program began on September 1,2020 and has helped

over 2,300 landlord tenant pairs in reachmg an agreement or resolution with the support

of housing counselors and trained mediators in over 90% of cases. The Program has also

helped an additional 7,000 landlords and tenants access rental assistance without the need

for mediation.

Philadelphia currently leads the nation in distribution of federally allocated rental

assistance with over $212 million distributed to over 34,700 households.

Philadelphia as received national attention for these programs and the collaboration

between the Court, the Diversion Program and the rental assistance program from the

Department of Justice, White House, Urban Institute and major national media outlets.

Philadelphia has avoided the wave of evictions predicted. Eviction j51ings in Philadelphia

are less than a third of what they were pre-pandemic.

Respectfully Submitted,

Robin Blumenfeld Switzenbaiun

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