Peter Edelman and James Sandman: The high cost of cutting funding for civil legal services
When a storm hits, the most vulnerable are often those who live in the lowest-income, highest-risk areas, without the financial means to escape or mitigate the damage. So it’s apt that DC Mayor Muriel Bowser noted when unveiling her proposed fiscal year 2024 budget that the District faces a “perfect storm”: a precipitous drop in tax revenue from downtown commercial properties; the expiration of pandemic-related federal funding in the next fiscal year; and an increase in municipal costs.
The city’s changed fortunes require some painful choices. But the mayor’s proposed 60% funding cut for the Access to Justice Initiative, which supports civil legal services for low-income District residents, is shortsighted. Alongside proposed reductions to other critical programs like victim services and emergency rental assistance, this cut would have a disastrous impact on DC’s most vulnerable communities — and consequences that would resound citywide.
In the U.S., people accused of crimes are entitled to a free lawyer, but no such right exists in the civil context. When facing a life-altering event — such as unlawful eviction, potential loss of child custody, domestic abuse, or wrongful employment termination — people who can afford it will hire a lawyer. But in the District’s civil courts and tribunals, between 75% and 97% of litigants navigate these high-stakes cases without a lawyer’s help. This is where nonprofit legal services providers step in.
The DC Council, which will vote on the budget May 16, has thus far pledged to restore at least $3.85 million of the $18.6 million that the mayor has proposed cutting. That still leaves a $14.8 million gap between funding in fiscal years 2023 and 2024. Such a shortfall would cripple legal services providers’ ability to provide representation in a range of critical areas: housing, access to food and economic supports, safety from abuse, and family stability. The effects would be felt across the city with an uptick of unrepresented litigants in DC courts, a surge in poverty and homelessness, and deepening social, economic and racial inequality.
A civil justice gap has long existed in DC, with legal services organizations forced because of lean funding to turn away most people seeking help. Funding increases for legal aid in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 have been eliminated in the mayor’s proposed 2024 budget, imperiling nonprofits that rely on stable funding to maintain services.
Today, even as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes, the need in DC’s low-income communities is growing. As protections like eviction– and debt-related moratoria have expired and rental assistance programs have run out of funds, the risk of eviction has soared. Tenant requests for legal help increased 226% in the latter half of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021, with requests in the first two months of 2023 increasing 70% over the prior year. One nonprofit serving District domestic violence survivors has seen its client numbers double since 2019, with community need far outstripping its capacity to provide legal help. This disparity between need and capacity is true for many areas of legal peril District residents face.
Access to civil legal help is also a racial justice imperative. In Ward 7 and Ward 8, where nearly 90% of the population is Black, poverty is prevalent — and the need for legal assistance acute. Poverty increases the likelihood of civil legal problems and compounds the difficulty of overcoming them.
Legal aid attorneys provide critical interventions at moments of crisis to people living in poverty, who often experience multiple, cascading legal problems: They may receive an eviction notice even as they are appealing a loss of the disability benefits they need to pay rent, or seeking protection from an abusive partner whose income keeps their household afloat. If they become homeless, they may lose custody of their children. One legal problem often spawns many, which is why legal aid providers are essential in stopping the spiral of adverse events.
Reducing funding to legal services promises a false economy. Any “savings” will inevitably surface in the form of new costs: in swelling pressure on the courts caused by unrepresented litigants, or in homeless shelters stretched to capacity by evicted families who could not afford a lawyer. An investment in nonprofit legal aid organizations staffed by dedicated attorneys who provide free, expert legal help to low-income residents is an investment in the District’s long-term health, safety and stability.
The DC Council must restore funding to the Access to Justice Initiative to ensure that the District’s most vulnerable residents have legal help when faced with a crisis. Guaranteeing this access underscores a fundamental societal value: Justice should be equally apportioned, not a luxury available only to those who can afford it. When justice is not accessible to all, none are truly safe from the ravages of a perfect storm.
Peter Edelman and James Sandman are the chair and vice chair, respectively, of the District of Columbia Access to Justice Commission.
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