Vermont legal aid groups tell Senate Judiciary demand has surged; housing evictions now top helpline calls

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 legal assistance website that averages more than 600,000 page views annually.

The nut graf: committee members heard that the influx of cases is concentrated in housing, particularly no-cause and for-cause evictions, and that staffing and funding limits mean many callers receive only brief advice or are placed on wait lists rather than full representation.

Palmer said demand remains elevated compared with pre-pandemic years and that overall request volume increased by about 20% compared with the last five-year review. He and partners have prioritized housing work: "We... have been diverting a lot of our resources to evictions," he said, adding that nonpayment cases account for roughly 18–20% of calls while eviction-related contacts overall have risen to about 45–50% of intake.

Witnesses described how representation can shorten case timelines and reduce costs for all parties. Palmer cited a pilot evaluation in which cases with representation resolved more quickly: "The length of time to resolve the cases went down pretty dramatically when there was representation on both sides."

Vermont Legal Aid emphasized limits in family-law capacity. Yasmine Dwidar, executive director of Vermont Legal Aid, said the organization has shifted more staff to telephone advice and clinics and that full litigation-level representation has been curtailed in many family-law matters because funds are limited. She told the committee that foundation grants allow targeted impact litigation and clinics, but those pots of money are small and time-limited.

Committee members asked about the timing of intake and intervention. Palmer said providers try to reach tenants before a case is filed so they can explore options short of court, but many callers only seek help after a complaint or a notice to quit has been served. When a case is filed, Legal Services Vermont and partners receive notices and send letters offering help to capture more people early in the court process.

The testimony included examples of operational strain: a single full-time staffer now spends most of their time triaging transcribed voicemail and intake because of the volume of daily requests. Witnesses also said resources are uneven across the state; pilot funding has supported local programs in some counties, but capacity remains limited in many rural areas.

The hearing concluded with witnesses urging increased and sustained state funding to the Vermont Bar Foundation and legal services providers so programs that deliver clinics, volunteer-attorney networks and direct representation can expand. No formal votes or committee actions were recorded during the testimony.

The committee took a short break after the testimony; witnesses offered to follow up with additional data on specific points when requested by members.