The effort will launch in May with the center’s new Eviction Defense Center, an online resource for tenants going to court to fight an eviction.

Doing that without a lawyer often means losing, says the new program’s director, Phil Storey.

“But many people can get better results if they come ready to present information in a way that makes it easy for the judge to understand,” he said.

The new online eviction resource will provide simple, usable information and innovative tools tenants can take to court to fight eviction, he said.

For the past four decades, the poverty law center has focused on giving Virginians legal help with housing issues, consumer rights, health care and public benefits.

Its staff members are regularly advocates for low- and moderate-income Virginians before the General Assembly on issues ranging from utility regulation to consumer finance law, and its lawyers have helped win settlements that have returned millions of dollars to Virginians victimized by payday and other predatory lenders charging triple-digit percentage interest rates.

“I’ve been a legal aid lawyer for 37 years. “We started with the promise of a lawyer for everyone that needs one, but lack of resources has never made that possible,” said Jay Speer, the poverty law center’s executive director.

“We added legal helplines to reach more people, and now we’re taking our mission to the next level to reach more people who need our help,” he said.

“The promise of equal protection