Katie Davis, Director of PBRC's Courtroom Advocacy Project, and Staff Attorney Jill Shea spoke the WYPR about how the rent escrow process works to benefit renters while also addressing the barriers to access this type of legal service. 

"Rent escrow is only for situations that meet a very high bar for “life, health, and safety” of occupants, as according to the statute.

'It’s not for minor code violations… There can be a lot of stuff wrong with your place that is not probably gonna get addressed in rent escrow,' said Jill Shea, an attorney with the Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland, which serves low-income clients and where Shea estimates about 25% of her work is rent escrow cases."

Listen and read more about the potential law that will help embolden renters to advocate for better living conditions: https://www.wypr.org/wypr-news/2024-03-21/will-a-new-law-help-baltimore-residents-living-in-poorly-maintained-buildings.