“Sins of Omission: The Forgotten Poor”

From a February 2nd New York Times editorial: 

The proven national program of civil legal aid for impoverished
Americans, created in the 1960s, is suffering from multiple blows in
funding. While the poor are caught increasingly by foreclosure,
eviction and food-stamp fights for their daily bread, deficit-bedeviled
statehouses across the country are cutting support for legal services
or dropping the programs outright.

Creative funding that taps lawyers’ escrow accounts has evaporated
because it is tied to the Fed’s fading interest rate. Local
governments, charities and pro bono law firms are similarly
tight-pursed. Scores of legal aid societies are cutting their staffs
just as requests for help are booming, according to The Times’s Erik
Eckholm.

Bar associations continue to help, and even in these
tough times probably could do more. But federal funding is the ultimate
hope in a dire situation. In 2008, Congress chipped in $350 million for
the nonprofit Legal Services Corporation, which then distributed the
money throughout the country. Given the tough times — underfunded
programs and ever more desperate clients — more money is needed.
Congress still has the opportunity to renew the regular appropriation
in a coming omnibus budget bill, but it must bolster that with extra
support for the program.

 Read the full editorial on the New York Times website by clicking here.