•HRES 960 IH 
(4) in 2008, civil legal aid in Missouri helped 130 
low-income families avoid homelessness, saving the State 
$1,500,000 in emergency shelter costs, and that aid pro-
vided representation in domestic violence proceedings that 
saved the State $2,200,000 in avoided costs, including 
costs relating to medical care for injuries, police re-
sources, and counseling for affected children; 
Whereas every State has enacted legislation to guarantee 
counsel for some types of civil proceedings, most com-
monly child welfare and mental health proceedings, but 
the reach of these laws is very limited; 
Whereas a few States, counties, and cities throughout the 
United States have sought to address unmet civil legal 
needs by guaranteeing attorneys for individuals who can-
not afford them in proceedings affecting basic human 
needs, including that— 
(1) since 1975, the State of New York has provided 
a right to appointed counsel for individuals living below 
250 percent of the Federal poverty guidelines in critical 
family law proceedings, including proceedings related to 
adoption, child custody, and domestic violence; 
(2) since 2009, California has funded the provision 
of attorneys in several counties for individuals living 
below 200 percent of the Federal poverty guidelines in 
proceedings involving basic human needs, including hous-
ing and family law proceedings; 
(3) since 2008, Wyoming has provided a right to ap-
pointed counsel for unrepresented individuals subject to 
civil commitment proceedings for mental illness; 
(4) in 2017, New York City enacted legislation to 
provide a right to counsel by 2022 for all tenants subject 
to eviction who are living at or below 200 percent of the 
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Federal poverty guidelines and appropriated funds to 
guarantee, in some areas of the city, the provision of full 
legal assistance to income-eligible tenants and brief con-
sultation services to all other tenants; 
(5) in 2017 and 2018, the District of Columbia and 
Newark, New Jersey, respectively, began appropriating 
funding to provide legal counsel in eviction proceedings 
for individuals who live below 200 percent of the Federal 
poverty guidelines, with Newark, New Jersey providing 
legal counsel as a matter of right; 
(6) in 2018, the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of 
Housing and Community Development began providing 
$5,800,000 to 10 nonprofit law firms to implement the 
voter-approved ballot measure to guarantee representa-
tion for all tenants facing eviction in the city; 
(7) in 2019, Los Angeles County, California, pro-
vided funding for pilot projects to provide legal assistance 
in eviction proceedings for individuals living below 80 
percent of the median income in rent-burdened ZIP 
Codes; 
(8) in 2019, the Cleveland City Council established 
a right to legal services provided through city-funded 
legal aid programs for all tenants in eviction proceedings 
who have children and live at or below 100 percent of the 
Federal poverty guidelines; and 
(9) in 2019, the Philadelphia City Council estab-
lished a right to legal services provided through city-fund-
ed legal aid programs for all tenants in eviction pro-
ceedings who live at or below 200 percent of the Federal 
poverty guidelines; 
Whereas access to free legal representation has successfully 
helped low-income individuals in the United States pre-
serve the necessities of life, including that— 
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(1) in New York City, during the first year of a city- 
funded program to provide counsel in eviction pro-
ceedings, 84 percent of the tenants who received a lawyer 
remained in their homes (21,955 individuals in 7,847 
households); and 
(2) during the first 5 years of California’s Sargent 
Shriver Civil Counsel Act, adopted in 2009, 10 pilot 
projects served nearly 27,000 individuals in proceedings 
involving the loss of their homes, child custody disputes, 
or the urgent need for a family guardianship or con-
servatorship, with housing services alone affecting over 
73,000 household members; and 
Whereas the unprecedented health and economic crises 
caused by the COVID–19 pandemic are compounding 
and intensifying the legal needs of low-income individ-
uals, including that— 
(1) millions more individuals and families will be-
come eligible for legal assistance through legal aid pro-
grams due to lost jobs, furloughed employees, and med-
ical debt; 
(2) more than 30,000,000 individuals filed for un-
employment benefits during the period beginning on 
March 15, 2020, and ending on April 25, 2020; 
(3) millions of individuals are unable to make rent 
or mortgage payments and are at risk of, or are facing, 
eviction or foreclosure proceedings; 
(4) according to an analysis of over 13,000,000 
housing units nationwide conducted by the National Mul-
tifamily Housing Council, 31 percent of tenants failed to 
pay rent during the first 5 days of April 2020, compared 
with 18 percent of tenants who failed to pay rent during 
the same period in 2019; 
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(5) according to a survey completed in St. Louis, 
Missouri, 45 percent of renters do not have enough 
money in savings to pay rent for even a single month; 
(6) police departments across the United States are 
seeing dramatic increases in reports of domestic violence 
while, as of April 10, 2020, over 90 percent of individuals 
are subject to stay-at-home orders; and 
(7) a survey of the requests for legal assistance re-
ceived by Legal Services Corporation grantees during the 
last two weeks of March 2020, compared with the re-
quests received during the same time period in 2019, 
showed that— 
(A) Legal Services of Vermont had a 50-percent 
increase in requests for legal assistance; 
(B) Legal Aid of Arkansas had a 13.2-percent 
increase in overall requests for legal assistance and 
a 50-percent increase in requests for housing-related 
cases; and 
(C) Montana Legal Services had a 30-percent 
increase in demand for legal aid, with most cases in-
volving evictions, domestic violence, consumer debt, 
and unemployment benefits: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives finds 
that— 
(1) the lack of counsel for low-income individ-
uals in civil proceedings diminishes the justice sys-
tem in the United States; 
(2) to effectively and efficiently address the na-
tional crisis described in paragraph (1), there must 
be a right to counsel in the civil justice system for 
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cases involving basic human needs, including health, 
safety, family, shelter, or sustenance; and 
(3) the Federal Government shares the burden 
with, and should support, State and local efforts to 
guarantee the right to counsel in the civil justice 
system and reduce the justice gap by providing 
counsel in appropriate civil proceedings without cost 
for low-income individuals. 
Æ 
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