Executive Director

TANF. The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program is scheduled to be re-authorized this year.  TANF was the centerpiece of the mid-1990’s changes to the public systems of support for low-income families dubbed “welfare reform.”  The stated idea behind TANF was that it would give a short term cash benefit while parents were assisted to move into the workforce.  The result is that TANF participation has decreased and the percentage of people eligible for benefits who actually receive them has declined.  Legal Momentum found that the decline in participation has, remarkably, continued throughout the recession.

Network, a group of Catholic social justice leaders, recently completed and published a report on the effectiveness of the TANF program during the recession.  TANF Tested: Lives of Families in Poverty during the Recession .   There are real questions about whether TANF’s focus on work made a difference during the boom years immediately following welfare reform.   Only a very small percentage of people leaving TANF for work secured employment with an adequate wage to lift them out of poverty.  During a recession, where official unemployment rates have climbed to nearly 10% nationally, the notion that work is the answer for most families living in poverty is absurd.

Driven by the results of the study, Network has made a number of important recommendations for the reauthorization bill.  The most important being that the basic measure of success be shifted from whether TANF caseloads are reduced to whether TANF recipients and those who leave TANF move out of poverty.

What the Federal Government Should Do Next to Reduce Poverty. Important provisions of the Stimulus Package provided support to state and local governments to continue and expand safety-net programs.   Key aspects of these programs are set to expire, despite that unemployment remains very high and communities are in distress.

The Urban Institute issued a briefing paper in July (Co-Authored by DC Access to Justice Commission Chair and Georgetown Law Professor Peter Edelman) with recommendation for short and long term measures that the federal government should take to reduce poverty and increase economic security.  Reducing Poverty and Economic:  Distress after ARRA: Next Steps for Short-Term Recovery and Long-Term Economic Security.  The paper looks at the immediate need for income support and job creation, but also looks forward to the next crisis in the job market and measures that might be taken to create long term economic stability.

Impact of the Recession on the Courts. We have previously written in this blog about the crisis in equal justice.  A new American Bar Association report examines the question from the perspective of the bench.  The ABA surveyed 1200 judges from across the country on the effects of the recession on representation in the courts.  The study found that self-representation is, not surprisingly, on the increase.  More significantly, however, the judges admit that self representation yields unjust results.  The report concluded:  “The most important issue with regard to self representation is what is its effect. The table below shows that while 37% of the judges say that it is not problematic, 62% say that individuals are negatively impacted. Only a very few say that there is a positive impact… Also troubling to 26% of the justices is that the court allows an injustice to occur when one of the parties is not able to properly present the valid claims or defense that they might have.”

Defeat Poverty DC:
Putting Economic Opportunity on the 2010 Political Agenda

What:
Panel discussion, moderated by NBC News4 political reporter Tom Sherwood, and release of new report on growing poverty in DC during the recession.

When:
March 24, 2010, 9:00 –10:30 a.m.

Where:
The True Reformer Building,
Lankford Auditorium
1200 U Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20009

Defeat Poverty DC is a new coalition of organizations and residents in the District of Columbia working to bring greater focus during the 2010 election season and beyond to the damaging effects of poverty on our entire city. The District’s long-term economic vitality depends on helping families obtain good jobs, affordable housing, and quality health care and child care.

The 2010 mayoral and city council elections give us a chance to have a serious discussion about what our city must do to make work possible for low-skilled DC residents; make work pay enough to support a family; and make basic needs like housing and health care affordable for all.

The event will include a lively panel discussion among local officials and community leaders about the need for the city’s elected officials to formulate clear policies for defeating poverty in DC. We need leaders who will make defeating poverty in our city a priority!

Refreshments will be served.

Please RSVP by March 19 to Tamanna Mansury at Tamanna@thehatchergroup.com or 301-656-0348.

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Defeat Poverty DC is a non-partisan initiative that is bringing together advocacy groups, business, labor, faith organizations and residents throughout the city. It is led by a steering committee made up of organizations with a long history of advocating for those in need: the Children’s Law Center, the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development, DC Appleseed, DC Fiscal Policy Institute, DC Hunger Solutions, the Moriah Fund, the Washington Area Women’s Foundation, and Wider Opportunities for Women.

Executive Director

We have written before in Makingjusticereal.org about the impact that the recession has had not only on the needs for legal help, but also on the budgets of legal assistance organizations.  As the recession drags on, the situation grows more desperate for people who live at the bottom of the income scale.  Unemployment rates continue to rise in many neighborhoods as government and private services are withdrawn.  Legal assistance, which is often necessary to address poverty related disputes, is also shrinking.

Professor Peter Edelman and I had the opportunity to give the topic a more thorough treatment in the March 2010 Washington Lawyer.  The article builds on the joint “Rationing Justice” report of the D.C. Consortium of Legal Services Providers and the D.C. Access to Justice Commission.

Executive Director

The Department of Human Services (DHS) is responsible for providing critical supports to people living in or near poverty.   During the recession, the demand for assistance has risen, but DHS has failed to meet the challenge.   Long lines at service centers, improperly denied benefits and too few staff plague the agency.   At the City Council Oversight Hearing for the Department of Human Services on February 17, the Director of DHS testified that the agency was hiring new staff and revising program operations to promote greater efficiency and accountability. 

However, it has taken the agency far too long to respond to this crisis.  Even now, the agency is still investing too many resources in  long-term planning that may or may not produce results at the expense of immediate, proven fixes.   Additionally, the District has also failed to expand the Food Stamps program and is limiting the Interim Disability Assistance (IDA) program although these benefits are urgently needed and paid for with federal dollars.   The District must take action to ensure that the District families, people with disabilities and the unemployed who rely on DHS for safety net benefits get this help immediately.

Jennifer Mezey, Supervising Attorney

Read the testimony of Legal Aid Public Benefits Supervisor Jennifer Mezey at the agency’s February 17 performance oversight hearing.

Executive Director

Nearly one in five families had at least one period in 2009 in which they did not have enough money to buy adequate food.   The Food Resource Action Center released an alarming report on hunger in the United States on January 26, 2010.   The report is based on surveys conducted in every State and Congressional district of nearly 650,000 people.   The findings include:  

• 18.5% of households answered yes to the “Have there been times in the past twelve months when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed?”   Those answering yes are considered “food insecure” or experience “food hardship.”
• The rate of food insecurity shot up to 24.1% if there were children in the household.   This means that one in four children is at risk for not getting enough to eat despite school lunch and food stamps.
• If the District were treated as a State, it would be ranked 15, with 20.8% of families not having adequate money to reliably secure nutrition.   Only 11 metropolitan areas are worse off than the District in this regard.
• If just households with children are considered, the District is the worst in the nation.  More than four in ten District households with children experience food hardship.  Mississippi is the next closest at 33%. 

As we have previously written in this blog, DC has the tools to begin to tackle this problem.   The District is authorized to expand food stamp eligibility to 200% of poverty and to provide evening meals through the school lunch program.  

Further information is availalbe in a terrific commentary on the FRAC report and the effects on DC families.

January 28, 2010

9:30 am – 4:15 pm

American University Washington College of Law
Room 603
4801 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC

9:30 am                 Registration

10:00 am              Introductory Remarks

10:30 am              Welfare

Moderator:  Susan Bennett, Professor of Law and Director of the Community & Economic Development Law Clinic, Washington College of Law

Speakers:

Mark Greenberg, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, US Dept of Health and Human Services

Tim Casey, Senior Staff Attorney, Legal Momentum

Brian Gilmore, Howard University

12:00 pm              Lunch

1:00 pm                Access to Justice

Moderator: Cynthia Jones, Associate Professor of Law, Washington College of Law

Speakers:

Nancy Forester, Former Maryland Public Defender

Doug Colbert, University of Maryland

Jonathan Smith, Legal Aid Society of District of Columbia

2:30 pm                Break

2:45 pm                Family Responsibility Discrimination

Moderator:  Susan Carle, Professor of Law

Speakers:

 Lisa Schall, US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Helen Applewhaite, Family and Medical Leave Act Branch Chief, US Dept of Labor

Robin Cockey, Cockey, Brennan & Maloney, P.C.

4:15 pm                Reception

 Please register by clicking on www.wcl.american.edu/secle/registration. 

General registration is free but required.  For further information, please contact:  Office of Special Events & Continuing Legal Education, American University Washington College of Law.

Phone: 202.274.4075; Fax: 202.274.4079; or secle@wcl.american.edu

“A service like this, especially now, is needed because families are going to be homeless because they don’t have any recourse.” 

-          Vanesia Monroe, Legal Aid Client

“Rationing Justice,” the newly-released report on the state of legal services in the District, highlights the pressure to reduce services that legal aid groups are facing as a result of funding cuts – and the devastating effect this will have on thousands of potential clients. 

Vanesia Monroe and Marina Amaya both experienced firsthand the importance of free legal assistance.  But for the work of their Legal Aid attorneys, they would each have been illegally evicted from their homes.   Last Friday, they shared their stories with D.C. Access to Justice Commission Chair Peter Edelman and WAMU 88.5 reporter Rebecca Sheir.

 Listen to these pieces here:

Funding Declines For D.C.’s Legal Services Providers
Source: wamu.org

Recession Slashes Legal Aid For Low-Income Residents Of D.C.
Source: wamu.org

Executive Director

The D.C. Access to Justice Commission and the Consortium of Legal Services Providers just completed a study of the impact of the recession on civil legal assistance in the District.   The results of the study are dramatic.   At a time when client needs are growing because of unemployment and a shrinking safety-net, legal aid programs in the District are being decimated.   In the District over the last year, $4.5 million in funding (25% of total funding) was lost resulting in 21 lawyer positions being vacant.   The loss of these lawyers means that more than 1000 cases that would have had counsel will go to litigation pro se and more than 2000 clients will not get advice, brief assistance or counseling.   We believe that next year will be worse.

 The following is the report’s executive summary.   The full report may be obtained on Legal Aid’s Website. 

Rationing Justice: the Effect of the Recession on Access to Justice in the District of Columbia

A Joint Report of the D.C. Access to Justice Commission and the

D.C. Consortium of Legal Services Providers

 Executive Summary

Legal Assistance is a Critical Strand in the Safety Net for Low-Income DC Residents

Low-income District residents rely on legal services providers to help them secure the most basic of human needs.  Without advocates, poor residents are forced to navigate intimidating and complex court processes alone, often when their homes, their children, their safety, or their only income stream is in jeopardy.  For our many neighbors who are chronically ill, physically or mentally disabled, victims of violence or who struggle with literacy or English proficiency issues, this is a particularly treacherous proposition. 

Anti-Poverty Legal Services Have Been Devastated by the Recession

The recession has devastated the capacity of legal services providers to meet these urgent needs.  At a time when clients are seeking services in greater numbers, legal services organizations are being forced to reduce or eliminate critical programs.  A rapid decline in funding due to the recession has required drastic measures, including laying off staff, closing intake sites, and reducing services:  funding for legal assistance in the District is down $4.5 million, a drop of more than 25%; 21 fewer lawyers are working for legal services programs; legal services programs have lost 30 paralegals, policy advocates, social workers and others who provide critical support for clients.

Communities Living in Poverty Are In Crisis

The recession has had a severe impact on District neighborhoods with high concentrations of poverty.  Unemployment in low-income neighborhoods is at shocking levels:  official unemployment in Ward 8 is 28.3%, in Ward 7 it is 19.5%, and in Ward 5 it is 15.5%.   The highest rates of foreclosure are in the poorest neighborhoods.  Homeowners and landlords are losing their homes and families are being displaced or become homeless.  Government and charities have fewer resources to assist.  The increased economic despair combined with reduced services makes it harder for persons in poverty to meet basic human needs.  Lawyers can often stave off the worst impacts by defending eviction actions, helping clients obtain unemployment or other benefits, or securing access to nutrition or health care or ensuring  that a family is safe from domestic violence.

Critical Legal Services Have Been Cut

 The reduction in legal services has widened the justice gap.  Twenty-one fewer lawyers means that approximately 1050 fewer cases a year are handled before the courts or an administrative agency and 2100 fewer clients receive counseling, advice or brief services.  In addition, programs have had to reduce intake hours, restrict intake criteria, reduce provision of extended representation in favor of providing brief assistance, narrow priorities, and reduce or eliminate crucial supportive and social work services.

Next Year Will Be Worse

Every key funding source for legal services will decrease in 2010.  District funding for civil legal services has already been cut by $700,000.  Foundation funding is expected to decline due to the drop in endowment equity.  Law firm and individual giving, already down by 20%, will be flat or decrease further.  Legal services organizations have used up much of their flexibility.   In 2009, programs went deeply into reserves, imposed salary and hiring freezes, furloughed staff and reduced an eliminated discretionary spending.   There is little room to address further funding shortfalls.  This means that fewer and fewer clients will receive desperately needed legal assistance.