Meet Mark Melton, a 43 year old tax attorney in Dallas who has become a defender of tenants, helping over 6,000 people around Texas avoid eviction as the pandemic wreaked financial havoc across the state.
Mark’s mission began in April 2020 when he noticed the rising number of people been evicted from their homes. Putting his professional skills to use, he brushed up on eviction law and offered free legal advice over Facebook. The response was overwhelming. Unable to service the volume of demands alone, Mark recruited 175 other attorneys and created the Dallas Eviction Advocacy Centre, a non-profit, pro-bono legal service to help renters understand their rights, and get access to financial assistance.
In the past 13 months, Mark and his team have taken on a wide range of issues from negotiating with landlords to court hearings and helping people source groceries. After hundreds of hearings, the team have lost only two cases. “If you have a lawyer with you, your likelihood of getting evicted is much lower.”
Mark’s mission is a personal one. At the age of 21, he was married with two kids, when he lost his job at a large collection agency in Tulsa and the bank foreclosed on his house. Without a college degree or job prospects, Mark and his wife sold all their possessions, packed up their kids and drove their Honda Civic to Dallas to find better opportunities. After putting himself through college while working two jobs, Mark eventually graduated with a law degree. Mark credits his success to the help he got along the way and this gratitude drives him to pay it forward and help as many people as he can.
I relate to that sense of just complete and utter desperation and the necessity to rely on the charity of others just to get the most basic of things. If I shut down or break down and quit, there’s going to be more people living on the streets as a result, and I just can’t do that.
