ProPublica: Legal Services for Poor Face Growing Need and Less Funding

Legal Services for Poor Face Growing Need and Less Funding

by Marian Wang
ProPublica, May 16, 2011, 11:05 a.m.


Providers of civil legal services to the poor are having to furlough their staff, triage their clients, and turn away more people in need as a result of the congressional budget compromise reached last month. Legal services may include defending low-income individuals dealing with predatory lending, domestic violence, landlord-tenant disputes or foreclosure. As we've noted, legal experts have particularly urged to Congress to adequately fund legal services in order to alleviate the crisis of flawed foreclosures.

But far from seeing any budget increases, the umbrella nonprofit group Legal Services Corporation had its funding cut by $15.8 million—about 4 percent of its most recent budget—as a result of last month's budget compromise. It was spared a $75 million cut first proposed by House Republicans.

The modest reduction isn't the only reason that the 136 legal aid programs across the country funded through LSC are in a tight spot. In addition to less funding from the federal government, they have limited support from cash-strapped states, dwindling revenue from trust accounts and a growing population of people eligible and in need of their help.

“You do reach a point where you can no longer absorb” the cuts, Edwina Frances Martin, a spokeswoman for Legal Services NYC, told me. Martin said her organization gets about 14 percent of its budget from Legal Services Corporation and lost about $720,000 in the final federal budget. It’s planning cutbacks large and small—cutting the budget for food at trainings, leaving some empty positions unfilled and implementing furloughs in some field offices. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/legal-services-for-poor-face-growing-need-and-less-funding

I'm stunned at how much of a shitstorm is happening.