Milwaukee County approves $250,000 to fund right to counsel program

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved $250,000 to fund the Legal Aid Society’s Right to a Lawyer Program. Under this program, eligible residents facing eviction proceedings will receive free legal representation. In the new program, priority will be given to renters and families with young children.

“There is a broad, positive and progressive coalition of stakeholders who support this program,” said Sup. Jack Eckblad, author of the amendment that will help fund the program. Calls to establish such a program have increased since 2020, when eviction requests Sore to new heights during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Milwaukee County, eviction filings increased by 26 that year.

An initial pilot program launched in late 2021 received more than $3 million in funding. Under the program, tenants attending eviction proceedings were more frequently represented by attorneys, and the incidence of representation increased from 2-3% to 6-16%. Evictions were prevented in 76% of cases and eviction records were sealed in 72% of cases. Most of those filings, according to a report evaluating the pilot program, were in majority-black census tracts, and 78% of the program’s clients were black women.

Housing advocates He said the program needed to expand. to have greater impact. They also objected to input from landlords during the process of developing new programs to help tenants in Milwaukee.

Over the summer, outreach groups reported seeing more people living without shelter on the streets and in cars. in julyAfter police in another state killed a homeless man during the Republican National Convention, the outreach group Street Angels reported serving up to 300 people a night. Funding for the Right to Counsel Program comes as the biggest help for winter in Wisconsin.

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