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Panel urges permanent funding for Maryland’s Access to Counsel in Evictions program
Summary
Witnesses told the House Appropriations Committee that the ACE program — Access to Counsel in Evictions — has produced an 88% success rate for tenants who want to remain housed and generated large state savings, and testimony asked the committee to make funding from abandoned property permanent.
House Bill 103 would remove the sunset on funding for Maryland's Access to Counsel in Evictions (ACE) program and make the current $14 million annual contribution from the state's abandoned property fund a permanent source for the program.
Former Attorney General Brian Frosh, who helped create the program, described ACE as a "paradigm of success" and urged the committee to retain funding. "The record of this access to counsel and evictions program over the past couple of years... has been really a paradigm of success," Frosh said.
Michelle Siri, executive director of the Maryland Legal Services Corporation (MLSC), said MLSC administers the ACE coordinated intake system and that the program expanded statewide and served almost 9,000 tenants in the most recent year. An independent report attached to MLSC testimony estimated fiscal and economic benefits: roughly $46.7 million in state-level savings, $6 million in tenant savings and nearly $1 million in recoveries. Siri said 88% of tenants who wanted to remain in their homes were able to do so with counsel.
Vicky Schultz of Maryland Legal Aid and other legal-aid representatives said ACE closes an equity gap: prior to ACE only about 1% of tenants had counsel, while about 96% of landlords were represented. Witnesses and task-force staff called ACE a high return-on-investment program and said permanent funding would allow continued statewide coordinated intake, expanded local services and ongoing evaluation.
Attorney General's Office staff and the ACE task force supported making the $14 million contribution permanent and recommended winding down the task force after 2026, after implementation targets are met and the task force files its final report.
Ending: Supporters urged a favorable report to remove the sunset, make the ACE funding permanent and allow the statewide eviction‑counsel system to continue without interruption; no committee vote was recorded in the hearing transcript.
