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By: Glenaida Mercado ‘24
This summer I worked for Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project, with funding provided by University at Buffalo School of Law Summer Public Interest Funding & Fellowship Program.
I worked in the Housing Department, primarily handling eviction defense cases. Here we represented tenants throughout their eviction’s proceedings. Thanks to my prior year experience as a student attorney, I was able to jump right in and get hands on experience negotiating stipulations for tenants preventing their evictions.
Being in Housing Court at Buffalo City Court was eye opening to how devastating Buffalo’s socioeconomic issues are. As one can imagine, if people are struggling to afford rent to the point where they are being evicted from their home, other problems like mental health, nutrition, healthcare, and education often are neglected. This means many of our clients need help with more than just legal proceedings, yet there are few legal remedies to provide assistance.
Unfortunately, there is little diversity among Buffalo housing attorneys. This creates an uncomfortable dynamic as many tenants are people of color. Just by being a person of color, I was able to diffuse many situations and give diverse tenants a sense of security that their circumstance was understood and empathized with. I was able to give people hope sharing my own journey from being a former foster child and single mother in public housing to becoming a Student Attorney. Beyond my own diversity, I have a degree in Urban and Public Policy and Sociology. I also am a community activist where I address issues with racial inequality in the Buffalo Community and Erie County Jails. I truly feel that all my life experience prepared me perfectly to be able to make a difference in Housing Court.
The Housing Crisis in Buffalo is not getting nearly as much attention as it requires. People are being evicted from their homes at exponential rates. Even if we can work out stipulations to prevent an eviction, often the tenant cannot afford to pay their rental arrears and future rent, and they have to agree to leave the property within a time period averaging 45 days. Although 45 days is a much better time frame than two weeks, it is still incredibly unreasonable to force people to pack up their homes and families and find new housing they can afford in less than two months. To add to the turmoil, the rapid development of Buffalo has caused dozens of new loft apartments to be built every year with property management companies charging ridiculous prices and requiring tenants to make three times the rental price each month. This allows residential landlords to be able to raise their rents and standards for renting. Some of the most dangerous, infested, and impoverished areas of Buffalo, now have rental prices between $1000-$2000. Five years ago the rent would have been less than $600. Our homeless shelters are overflowing, our rental assistance programs are out of money, Section 8 is not accepting new applications, subsidized housing waiting lists are multiple years in length. Where are people supposed to go to have the basic human need of shelter?
Seeing the need for attorneys of color in public interest fields solidified my post Law School plan of working in eviction defense. However, this is just step one for my plan. I want to become an Erie County Legislator and address more of the socioeconomic issues we see in our city, my home. As a legislator, I will hopefully be able to expose the intersectionality of problems people of color and low-income individuals of Buffalo face. I will be able to provide a unique perspective to an under-diversified group of officials leading our County. Most importantly, however, I will be able to be an example to children and adults of color that together we can change the system. I would not be in the position I am today without the community, and I will do everything in my power to give others the same support I have had through my journey here.
I want to thank the donors of Joseph Antonecchia Fellowship for providing me this opportunity to become the change I wish to see in my community. Joseph Antonecchia was a trail blazer long before me, who clearly has left an impact on those he worked alongside. It is the kind, intelligent and thoughtful activists that have come before me that fuel me to carry on their legacy, and I truly hope I am doing a sufficient job of carrying on his. I am grateful for this opportunity I was given.
Name: Glenaida Mercado ‘24
Fellowship: Joseph Antonecchia Fellowship
Placement: Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyer Project
Location: Buffalo, NY
One important lesson I have learned from this fellowship: Just by being myself, I am demonstrating to my community that there is hope for a better future when we work together and refuse to accept the conditions we have been given.
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