The COVID-19 pandemic has stretched our community beyond the already devastating health effects. As of this writing, nearly 9,000 Illinoisans have lost their lives and over 20,000 have been hospitalized. There have been terrible socioeconomic implications:
- 1.3 million Illinoisans are unemployed;
- An estimated 32% didn’t pay for their housing last month, including 24 million US renters that cannot pay their rent;
- 35,000 debt collection cases have been filed in Cook County since August;
- Divorce is up 34% over last year;
- Domestic violence is up 20%
But many of the legal implications of the pandemic—such as evictions, collections, and divorces—have yet to fully materialize.
CARPLS and the legal aid community in Chicago and across Illinois are working together to ease some of the legal fallout about to take place for vulnerable members of the community.