In Roll Call and in The Hill’s Congress Blog, Brennan Center Cites Crisis in Legal Representation for Poor, Urging Passage of Civil Access to Justice Act and Repeal of LSC Restrictions
Legal Services E-lert
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Source: Brennan Center
In Roll Call on March 2, 2010, Brennan Center Counsel Melanca Clark wrote: “Late last month President Barack Obama announced his administration’s latest initiative for tackling the country’s unrelenting foreclosure crisis. One and a half billion dollars will go to assist states that have experienced the greatest decline in home values to develop programs to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. . . . Providing incentives to lenders to alter loan terms will undoubtedly help families keep the roof over their heads. But a comprehensive approach for addressing the foreclosure crisis requires both a carrot and stick approach. We are in this mess in no small part because of irresponsible lending practices that many lenders either explicitly condoned or willfully ignored. Some of the more predatory and abusive practices — disproportionately targeted to low-income and minority communities — were illegal. Despite this reality, the overwhelming majority of homeowners facing foreclosure do so without legal assistance, according to a recent Brennan Center for Justice study. As a result, wrongdoers are rarely held accountable for their misdeeds. . . . For most . . . the inability to pay for an attorney put legal assistance out of reach as there are not enough no- or low-cost publicly funded attorneys to meet the demand. . . . The first needed fix is simple: more funding for foreclosure legal assistance. . . . Congress must also lift the federal restrictions that impede delivery of legal services for the poor. The passage of legislation this past December lifting the restriction on LSC-funded attorneys’ ability to collect statutorily authorized attorneys’ fees was an important first step. But Congress should go further and remove the remaining burdensome federal constraints on legal aid providers’ use of nonfederal funds. This year’s LSC appropriation bill presents a ready vehicle.”
In The Hill’s Congress Blog on March 1, 2010, Brennan Center Research Associate and E-lert writer Emily Savner wrote: “As the foreclosure crisis moves from subprime to prime borrowers, the lives of some of the poorest of families in the country – rent-paying tenants in low-income communities – continue to be ravaged by the crisis. Too often, when landlords find themselves in foreclosure, their tenants are forced onto the street with little or no notice. . . . Despite a federal law enacted last year that included provisions to increase tenants’ protection from wrongful evictions, real estate development companies and lenders continue to harass and illegally pressure tenants to move out. More than ever before, low-income tenants need the help of an advocate in the courtroom and at the negotiating table to ensure that their rights to remain in their homes are protected . . . . Fortunately, a real solution is at hand. Legislation recently introduced in Congress would reauthorize and revitalize the Legal Services Corporation . . . By authorizing a federal funding level of $750 million . . . the Civil Access to Justice Act would help low-income people obtain the legal assistance they urgently need. The legislation also would repeal several outdated federal restrictions that prevent low-income people from relying on federally funded legal aid lawyers for the same forms of key legal assistance that are available to clients of private attorneys. . . . And, by eliminating the federal restriction’s chokehold on state, local and private legal aid funds, the Act would enable local authorities and legal aid programs to administer legal assistance in a more efficient and effective way . . . . Enacting the Civil Access to Justice Act is a first step toward ensuring that low-income families facing a broad range of survival-threatening civil legal issues can get the legal help they need, benefiting individual families and communities across the country.”