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Vermont legal aid groups tell Senate Judiciary demand has surged; housing evictions now top helpline calls
Summary
Legal services leaders told the Vermont Senate Judiciary Committee that demand for civil legal help has risen sharply since 2019, with housing and eviction issues now the single largest category of requests and many needs going unmet due to limited funding and staff.
Leaders of Vermont's legal services groups told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 7 that requests for civil legal help have risen sharply since 2019 and that housing- and eviction-related calls now account for roughly half of their helpline volume.
The testimony emphasized why the surge matters: without more funding, providers say they cannot meet demand or expand programs to help self-represented litigants. "We're getting a hundred to 120 requests for help a day, every working day," Sam Abel Palmer, executive director of Legal Services Vermont, said during his presentation to the committee.
The Vermont Access to Justice Coalition, created by order of the Vermont Supreme Court, commissioned a statewide legal needs assessment that providers updated in 2024. Palmer and other witnesses described multiple data sources used for the assessment, including court records, help-line intake, and traffic on a statewide…
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