Homes sit vacant and deteriorating in communities nationwide while the ranks of homeless people on the streets, in shelters and on relatives’ couches swell. At first sight, you might think the decline of neighborhoods is because of poverty or dereliction, but it can also result from a lack of access to legal services for civil legal matters.
For instance, a home has been in a family for generations and a natural disaster strikes. Because the family didn’t have legal help to ensure the title was passed to the new generation, the current owners can’t get disaster assistance to rebuild. The property sits vacant and deteriorating while the family is left without a home.
Or a medical bill for a family living on the edge goes to collection and then to court. Wages are garnished and the family loses their home, not knowing non-profit hospitals must provide a certain amount of charity care or that an attorney could help them get it. Or a veteran loses access to veterans’ benefits because of missing or mismanaged paperwork and ends up unable to maintain his home and is eventually out on the streets.
A recent Harris Poll found that most Americans have faced civil legal challenges in the last three years, though they may not recognize probate, debt collection, domestic abuse, job loss, and access to natural disaster relief or veterans’ benefits as legal issues. According to the survey, in the last three years, nearly two-thirds of Americans were contacted by creditors or collections agencies, 56 percent lost a job, 52 percent experienced a natural disaster, and 82 percent age 55 and older were victims of a scam or identity theft.
The Harris Poll, commissioned by the Legal Services Corporation as it marks its 50th anniversary supporting civil legal aid organizations, showed that Americans have a limited understanding of the civil legal system. More than half of U.S. adults (56 percent) mistakenly believe they are entitled to free legal representation if they cannot afford a lawyer for all civil matters, and an additional 18 percent are not sure if they have this right.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of Americans have faced eviction. The Harris Poll showed nearly one in three Americans facing eviction or foreclosure in the last three years did not seek legal help, and an additional 35 percent threatened with eviction reached out for legal help but couldn’t get it.
The right to an attorney under the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution, often spotlighted during arrests on TV and in movies, applies to defendants in the criminal justice system. It is not a right in most civil court matters, even though life-changing civil rulings can tear families apart, leave people homeless, or lead to lost benefits or garnished wages — sometimes before unrepresented citizens even realize they have been sued.
Civil legal aid helps level the playing field for low-income people who often face seasoned attorneys working for powerful clients, and it provides a great return on investment for society. When people can avoid eviction, for example, communities save money on shelter and healthcare, and people are able to remain employed or continue their education to better their lives.
Research consistently shows a positive return — from $3 to $13 for every dollar spent — when jurisdictions invest in legal aid. But legal services remain vastly underfunded, having resources to serve only a small part of the eligible people who reach out for help.
A fair legal system protects families and communities and is the foundation of our democracy. It cannot be fully realized without providing adequate civil legal assistance to all Americans.
