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Civil legal aid warns of eviction surge; requests for funding and intake redesign planned
Summary
Office of Civil Legal Aid reported the highest number of eviction filings ever in March and persistent high filing volumes in April, and said it will request funding to expand intake resources and children's representation capacity.
Sarah Robbins, director of the Office of Civil Legal Aid (OCCLA), told the committee that eviction filings surged this spring and are straining statewide intake and services. "We had the highest number, of evictions filed ever in Washington state history in the month of March," Robbins said, and filings remained high in April; statewide filings exceed roughly 2,000 per month, with King County recording over 1,000 filings in March alone.
OCCLA is assessing its CLEAR intake line (Coordinated Legal Education, Advice and Referral) and is planning decision packages for legislative funding to increase capacity, especially for rural callers and for children's representation. Robbins said the long-term care appointed counsel pilot is showing early promise with negotiated settlements and shorter case durations in administrative hearings.
Robbins asked legislative partners for continued attention to Legal Services Corporation (LSC) federal funding and other grant streams; she said Washington's Northwest Justice Project is the state's recipient of LSC funds and that federal funding threats would deeply harm statewide civil legal aid capacity.
Next steps: OCCLA will finalize decision-package asks for the legislature, share CLEAR assessment results and continue coordination with Northwest Justice Project and the Equal Justice Coalition on federal funding advocacy.
