Investing in public interest law to power community change 

Six U.S. Supreme Court Justices recently agreed that a city may use the criminal legal system to address homelessness in Grants Pass v. Johnson. With housing insecurity especially acute in the western United States, the ruling gives municipal and state governments a powerful tool but exacerbates the unmet legal needs facing low-income communities. 

The impact of criminalizing homelessness 

As Justice Sonia Sotomayor explained in her dissent, “homelessness is a reality for too many Americans,” with over 600,000 people every night seeking shelter in cars, tents, or parks, for example. Many are without homes because of unresolved legal issues—unlawful evictions, people fleeing abusive partners, young people in the foster care system, survivors of natural disasters, or veterans unable to access benefits to which they are entitled, among others.  

As housing insecurity grows, so too does the desire of cities such as Grants Pass, Oregon to address the problem by opting to fine or incarcerate unhoused people. But criminalizing homelessness adds to the ongoing injustice of mass incarceration and presents new legal issues that will make getting back on one’s feet all but impossible. As Justice Sotomayor observed, upon arrest, homeless persons are “separated from their property…items frequently destroyed include personal documents needed for accessing jobs, housing, and services such as IDs, driver’s licenses, financial documents, birth certificates, and benefits cards.” While public defenders can help unhoused people arrested under these ordinances, there’s little to no assistance to help recover what was lost in the process.    

The lack of civil legal aid and the need for public interest attorneys

More public interest attorneys are needed to help people avoid the legal problems that lead to or accompany homelessness—and fair housing is just one example of how legal aid plays a huge role in protecting access to justice. Unfortunately, though, fewer than 1% of the 1.3 million attorneys in the U.S. work in public interest law. This has created a “justice gap” in our legal system, especially for low-income communities.   

Over the last four decades, Equal Justice Works has worked to address the paucity of civil legal aid by developing and deploying more than 2,500 public interest leaders through fellowship programs in communities across the country. Over the course of their two-year terms, EJW fellows work with their host organizations—groups like The Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, Latino Justice, California Indian Legal Services, Center for Reproductive Rights, and many more—to develop and implement their own projects. Not only do they make lasting impacts on the communities as fellows; they often extend their projects beyond the fellowship, expanding capacity and driving systemic change. More than 85% of fellows remain in public service, supporting and building out the public interest law network. 

For example, 2021 EJW fellow Morgan Colonna helped clients navigate unlawful evictions in Richmond, Virginia, a city with the second-highest eviction rate in the country. Colonna’s work was focused on Richmond’s East End, where the federal government decided to construct I-95 directly through the heart of where low-income and Black communities are concentrated. Low-income families in the East End today confront substandard housing, higher rates of poverty, limited access to health care facilities, food deserts, and more compared with other neighborhoods. Recognizing the link between safe, stable housing and positive health outcomes, Colonna created a Medical-Legal Partnership with VCU Health.  

Under this partnership, doctors, nurses, and social workers screen patients for potential legal issues, referring them to Colonna just as they would refer a patient to any subspecialty. Colonna then helps patients with problems they believe have no solution, problems that sometimes result in becoming unhoused. Her presence enables low-income residents to remain in their homes, which is just as vital to their well-being as receiving the right high blood pressure medicine.  

Investing in public interest attorneys to close the ‘justice gap’

Paid fellowship programs work to attract new and prospective lawyers to the public interest sector, but they cannot be the only solution to the lack of civic legal aid. To bolster the pipeline of public interest attorneys who are working to close the justice gap, we need more resources dedicated to eliminating financial barriers to a career in public service.  

One critical deterrent to a career in public interest law is student debt, with people of color graduating from law school with twice the debt as their white counterparts. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) is the only educational debt program specifically targeted at public service professionals, ensuring those who want to dedicate their lives to public service have an opportunity to do so with the understanding their student loans will eventually be forgiven.  Equal Justice Works leads the PSLF coalition—more than 100 organizations dedicated to supporting and advocating for PSLF. 

We also partner with the private sector and receive support from foundations to field hundreds of fellows each year. Our society relies on these dedicated public servants who fight against injustices and drive progress, so sustained investments of financial, educational, and community resources are essential to building a more fair and just society. 

By making public service careers more accessible and creating public interest law opportunities for attorneys, we can help bridge the justice gap and provide long-term solutions to systemic issues in our communities. 

Photo credit: Equal Justice Works