Holistic Legal Services
Our team provides holistic legal representation and social work support to community members experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity, in order to help them protect their rights and gain or maintain housing.
Our holistic services includes:
- Eviction defense
- Litigation challenging housing discrimination, illegal lockouts, unsafe and unsanitary living conditions, and violations of federal housing laws
- Municipal and criminal defense against laws that target and criminalize the unhoused (e.g panhandling, trespassing, and nuisance ordinances)
- Facilitating rent and utility assistance
- Social work support and case management to help clients secure housing, and access employment opportunities and benefits that can help them remain stably housed
Impact Litigation
ArchCity employs impact litigation to expand and protect the rights of the unhoused, ensure that tenants facing eviction are afforded a fair day in court, and fight on behalf of tenants seeking better living conditions. Our impact litigation includes class actions in state and federal court as well as substantial appellate litigation to gain additional protections for renters throughout the state of Missouri.
Media & Policy Advocacy
In partnership with community members and organizations, our team engages in media and policy advocacy to frame the local and national conversations on housing and homelessness, and fight for policies that will improve the lives of people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity.
ArchCity’s housing and homelessness work has received extensive media coverage, from local and national print, radio, and television outlets. Our housing and homelessness advocacy has been featured in All Things Considered, Huffington Post, Newsweek, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis American, Riverfront Times, St. Louis Public Radio, St. Louis on the Air, FOX 2, KSDK, and KMOV.
Our media and policy work includes:
- Drafting legislation and impact statements
- Testifying before legislative bodies
- Policy campaigns
- Engagement with government officials at the local, state, and national levels
- Participation in National Housing Law Project, National Low Income Housing Coalition, National Homelessness Law Center, and National Lawyers Guild policy and legal working groups
- Producing audio, visual, and written content that uplifts the perspectives and experiences of unhoused individuals and people facing eviction during the COVID-19 pandemic
Community Collaborations
ArchCity actively supports and collaborates with unhoused individuals and communities, tenants, community organizations, service providers, and coalitions to build towards a world where others share our belief that housing is a human right.
ArchCity actively participates in or supports the following:
- Empower Missouri Affordable Housing Coalition
- Housing Eviction Defense Collaborative
- ProtectMOTenants Statewide Coalition
- St. Louis City & St. Louis County Continuums of Care
- STL Housing Defense Collective