November 19, 2023

Isaac Kennen works to prevent veteran homelessness, one housing court case at a time

BY Staasi HeropoulosMassLive

SPRINGFIELD — When Isaac Kennen opens an email or answers the phone, odds are a desperate and frightened veteran needs help to avoid eviction.

Kennen, who recently became a staff attorney for Community Legal Aid in Springfield, may be their best hope.

Kennen’s job is to intervene before at-risk veterans end up on the street or in shelters. His position is a new role funded by a grant from the Legal Services for Veterans program of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He advises veterans on legal matters related to housing.

“The majority of my clients are facing eviction because of behavior related to their mental illness, specifically folks that have PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder),” he said. “They may behave erratically or aggressively — and that may make them difficult tenants.”

The problem is rarely non-payment of rent.

The National Library of Medicine says 28 percent of U.S. veterans report having received at least one mental health diagnosis.

“Veterans facing eviction are pretty scared and suffering from anxiety. If they also have a mental illness, that doesn’t make things easier for them,” Kennen said.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Develop indicates there are more than 500 homeless veterans in Massachusetts, almost 10% of everyone living without a home. The U.S. veteran population is around 19 million, consisting of those who served in World War II (389,000) , the Korean era (1.2 million), Vietnam-era (6.3 million ), Gulf War–era (7.6 million) and Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (3.5 million), according to the National Library of Medicine.

Critical need

The demand for Kennen’s services is critical and ongoing. He typically has more than a dozen cases pending. “I cannot help all the veterans who need it. There’s pretty high demand for my services,” he said.

According to his staff bio, Kennen served with the Air Force for nearly two decades, much of that time as a military attorney, with multiple overseas deployments including to Afghanistan, Somalia and Qatar.

Kennen said he often argues in court that an eviction order should be delayed until the veteran can find and arrange to pay for another place to live.

“That’s the whole goal of fighting homelessness,” Kennen said. “Sometimes the best way to avoid it is to give people time and room to breathe. One of the benefits I bring to the table is giving other agencies additional time to help veterans resolve their issues. Agencies are overworked, understaffed and underfunded.”

Keenan’s work through Community Legal Aid is linked to a network of resources that help veterans with a range of issues, including housing, healthcare and employment.

A delay in the eviction process gives Veterans Inc. in Springfield time to find housing for veterans along with employment opportunities or government grants to ensure veterans keep up with their rent payments. Agencies also connect veterans to mental health services — a key part of the plan.

“Landlords can’t just say ‘leave’ and that’s it. They have to follow the law. My organization is trying to navigate vouchers, identify resources and fill out forms so they can move on to their next apartment,” said Bill St. Denis, a Veterans Inc. caseworker.

St. Denis said Veterans Inc. is able to help any veteran who needs the agency’s assistance.

That’s not true for Kennen, who struggles with his caseload.

Since he can’t help everyone, he triages calls — identifying veterans who can handle their cases without the benefit of counsel. Kennen assesses whether they are well-spoken enough to represent themselves. If they are, he may help them fill out forms, give them advice and send them to the judge.

“It’s super hard to make that decision. I’ve only been doing this for three months, so I don’t feel completely worn down yet,” he said.

When trying to decide whether to take a case, Kennen said he asks himself questions. “Do I feel they can represent themselves and fare pretty well, or are they going to have a hard time presenting their case cogently? Are they at imminent risk of being evicted?”

Diminishing help

Community Legal Aid used to have a lawyer in housing court on Tuesdays and Thursdays to look over a veteran’s paperwork and offer last-minute advice.

The demand is so strong, and resources so stretched, that free help is down to just Thursdays.

Some of the bigger law firms in Springfield help veterans pro bono, but this assistance is limited. Even with incomes hovering near the poverty level, veterans could technically afford to pay for an attorney.

When landlords want to evict a disorderly veteran, it’s not always an easy win for them.

“Housing is a very difficult area of law. You’re usually dealing with cases that are not clean cut where you do have problematic behavior by a tenant,” Kennen said. “But you also have a landlord, oftentimes, that has chosen to serve a population of veterans they know are going to have mental health issues and they are receiving federal funding to offer them housing.”

Grant funding for Kennen’s position is for one year and limits him to working with veterans from Hampden and Hampshire counties. He’s not sure if funding will be renewed. He believes he can show the program is worthwhile, but continuation is up to Congress and its ability to fund the government.

If the federal government shuts down because Congress can’t agree on a spending plan, legal aid is one of the programs that would go dark, leaving veterans on their own.

Other help exists. Cities and towns in Massachusetts employ Veterans’ service officers. They serve as one-stop resources, directing veterans to available help.

“I just needed somebody to sit with me and listen for five gosh-darn minutes,” Kennen said of his own return from military deployment.

“Instead of saying, ‘Fill out this online application, go to this website or call this 800 number.’ It was so important just to have somebody explain this stuff to me because it is so overwhelming when you come home, and you have a thousand resources thrown at you with no context.”

For more information, contact Veterans Inc. at www.VeteransInc.org or call 800-482-2565 for live assistance 24/7. Contact Community Legal Aid at www.CommunityLegal.org or call 855-252-5342.