legalaid

Know Your Rights: Medicaid Estate Recovery

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 14:26:40 GMT

When a family member dies, the State may say you have to pay back money for their Medicaid benefits. You may qualify for an exception.

A team of legal aid attorneys from around the state have created a new resource to educate Ohioans about their rights if they are facing Medicaid Estate Recovery after the loss of a loved one.

Medicaid Estate Recovery is the process by which the State of Ohio seeks to get paid back for some or all of the cost of a deceased person's Medicaid benefits, usually by making a claim on any property - including their home - that the person owned at the time of their death.

The new resource helps Ohioans facing estate recovery assess if they are eligible for an exception, learn the process for filing for an exception, and find out how to get help.

Download Now

Here are the basics ...

If you get a notice from the State saying you have to pay back money for a loved one’s Medicaid benefits, or a letter from the Attorney General’s Office or a lawyer for the State (called “special counsel”) saying money is owed, or if there’s a Medicaid lien filed on a house, it means the State is making a claim. This is not a claim against you personally. It is a claim against your loved one’s estate (what they owned when they passed away) or property they had an interest in at the time of their death. You should talk to an attorney before answering any letter you receive.

If you can show the State or their lawyer that any of the following are true about the family of the person who died, they should not try to collect the money right now:

Surviving Spouse Exemption: The person’s husband or wife is still alive.
Younger Child Exemption: The person has a child who is under 21 and still alive.
Blind or Disabled Child Exemption: The person has a child of any age who is blind or permanently disabled (as decided by Social Security, like getting SSDI or SSI) and still alive.

If the only property that the person owned when they died was their home, there are 2 other options:

1. Caregiving Child Exception: A child of the person can show that they:

Lived in the home for two years before their parent permanently moved to the institution such as a
nursing home or other facility, AND
They kept living in the same home after their parent entered the facility, AND
They provided care to their parent that delayed them needing to move to the facility, AND
They have or can produce documents to prove all of these things.

2. Resident Sibling Exception: A brother or sister of the person shows that they:

Lived in the home for at least one year immediately before their sibling moved to the institution AND
They continued living in the home after their sibling moved to the institution.

Qualified State Long-Term Care Insurance Program Reduction: If your loved one had qualified long-term care insurance that paid for some of their long-term care, the state may collect less money.

Undue Hardship Exception: If none of the above exceptions apply, but paying this money would cause serious financial hardship for you and your family, you may qualify for a hardship waiver.

Examples of hardship include:

The estate (like a family farm) is your only source of income.
Without money from the estate, you would be able to get public assistance.
Paying the claim would leave you without basic needs like food, shelter, or clothing.
You spent a significant amount of your own money to help care for your loved one who died.
You are 65 years old or older, or totally and permanently disabled, and you depend on the estate money to live.

Important Deadlines

You only have 30 days from the date this notice was mailed to ask for an undue hardship waiver .
The Ohio Department of Medicaid has 60 days after receiving your request to tell you whether it has been approved (in full, in part, or for a limited time) or denied.
If you disagree with the decision, you have 30 days from when you receive it to appeal and ask the Medicaid director to review it.

Learn about the process of filing for a Medicaid Estate Recovery exception and access the forms you'll need, by downloading this new Know Your Rights: Medicaid Estate Recovery resource.

Next Generation MyCare Is Here ... or Coming Soon

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 14:40:58 GMT

What Legal Aid clients need to know to make their best decision about Medicaid, Medicare, and MyCare

On December 31, 2025, the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) implemented the Next Generation MyCare program to provide healthcare benefits to many Ohioans who have both Medicaid and Medicare. The program is available in 29 counties and will become available in remaining counties on a schedule that runs from April 1 through August 1.

A subcommittee of the Health and Public Benefits Taskforce has been monitoring the transition from the MyCare pilot to the full-fledged program now rolling out across the state.

“The biggest wrinkle we’ve noticed so far,” said Pro Seniors Staff Attorney Erin Campbell who chairs the subcommittee, “is that some managed care plans did not tell their brokers that people who were on [Developmental Disability] waivers could not be enrolled in MyCare.”

Though eligible for the MyCare pilot program, Medicaid Developmental Disability (DD) waiver enrollees were not included in the revised program. Some received MyCare insurance cards anyway. Then, on December 30, affected individuals were canceled from their MyCare plans. Pro Seniors’ Helpline attorneys began receiving calls about the cancellation notices.

Campbell reached out to ODM, and the agency confirmed that some carriers had mistakenly enrolled individuals with DD waivers into MyCare beyond the pilot program, but the individuals have now been re-enrolled in Medicaid Fee-For-Service and their former Medicare plan.

FOR LEGAL AID ATTORNEYS

As MyCare rolls into non-pilot counties, Campbell encourages legal aid advocates to be on the lookout for some of the issues that the original counties encountered during the pilot program.

“Transportation was a big problem with the original MyCare,” Campbell said, citing examples like difficulty getting through to their plan's transportation contractor, or non-emergency transportation leaving a client at their destination and not coming back to get them. MyCare offers expanded transportation benefits, so it will take time to develop relationships with dependable transportation providers in the rural communities that are new to MyCare.

Campbell also recommends that advocates familiarize themselves with the some of the benefits and drawbacks of MyCare, so they can help clients get the information they need to make an informed decision.

“MyCare is not right for everyone,” Campbell explained. While MyCare Medicaid is required for many dual eligibles, individuals can opt out of MyCare for Medicare. “For some people there is a benefit to having two insurance companies, because it could increase the chance that at least one of the companies will offer coverage.” Individuals with a Medicare Supplemental or Retiree plan could lose their valuable plan and benefits if they enroll in MyCare for Medicare, so they should consider opting out. "But for many people, having one provider and one number to call makes dealing with everything easier,” Campbell said.

The biggest MyCare plusses for Campbell’s clients have been the transportation benefits and the medical debit cards. The monthly Medicaid Personal Needs Allowance (PNA) is $75 for people living in nursing homes, $30-$50 for people in assisted living, and $30 for people with SSI. However, individuals enrolled in MyCare can get $200/month on their medical debit cards. In addition to traditional medical expenses, those with certain conditions can use the medical debit card funds for food and utilities.

Campbell suggests recommending clients start by ensuring their providers accept MyCare insurance plans. They can check on the Ohio Medicaid Consumer Hotline page or contact the provider directly.

If you have questions about MyCare, contact your Public Benefits team or one of the members of the Health and Public Benefits Taskforce MyCare Committee: Ashley Socha and Joshua Goodwin from LASCO, Karla Perry from The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, Michelle Wrona Fox from Community Legal Aid, Rebecca Steinhauser and Nia Shuler from ABLE, and Erin Campbell from Pro Seniors.

To Brief or Not to Brief

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 13:53:54 GMT

Ohio Legal Aid Education Taskforce submits amicus brief demonstrating how EdChoice voucher programs impact rural and disabled students

Lucy Schwallie, Senior Attorney at Legal Aid of Southeast Central Ohio’s Athens office, says the litmus test for writing an amicus brief is, “are there people whose interests are not being represented by the plaintiff?”

Schwallie, along with Education Taskforce representatives from all of Ohio’s Legal Aid programs, recently submitted a second amicus brief in support of over 200 Ohio school districts’ case against the EdChoice private school voucher program, updating their previous research and adding a section on the impact on rural schools to this version of the brief prepared for the 10th District Court of Appeals.

“The school districts have an interest, which is serving children and having the money to serve children, but there are other interests at play,” Schwallie said. “Poor students, students with disabilities, rural students ... writing an amicus is a way to have the voice of those students and families be heard in that litigation.”

When the school districts first filed their suit against the State in 2022, members of the Education Taskforce reached out to see how legal aid could help. Though amici briefs are rare at the trial court level, the districts were eager to have legal aid bolster a case they were concerned might not ever make it to appeal. Advocates from each of Ohio’s legal aid programs researched the disparate impacts of the EdChoice programs and produced a brief that documented how the programs caused a general decrease in public school funding, spent public dollars on schools that have no obligation to serve students with disabilities, and exacerbated the racial segregation of Ohio’s K-12 student population.

In June of 2025, Judge Jaiza Page of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas issued a summary judgement in favor of the school districts, finding that the EdChoice programs violate Ohio’s Constitution by creating a second parallel school system rather than a scholarship program.

As soon as the State appealed the case, the Education Taskforce got the band back together. Schwallie, who organized the research and drafting process, and advocates from several programs joined Kristen Hildebrandt of Disability Rights Ohio and Danielle Gadomski Littleton of The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, who returned from the 2022 drafting crew.

“We completely reworked the whole brief,” Schwallie said. Pairs of advocates teamed up to update the research in each section, while Schwallie, Rene Murphy from ABLE and Sarah Flohre from the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati developed the section on rural schools and students. Other advocates who contributed to the process included Sarah Wiley of Community Legal Aid, Caitlin DiCresce and Hannah Wagner of Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio, and Tim Johnson of the Ohio Poverty Law Center.

“The attorneys who represent the schools have been very grateful for our work,” Schwallie said. “They are limited in the number of pages they can submit and are glad we can add in the impact on a student with autism or a student in a rural county where there are no private schools.”

The advocates expect oral arguments in the 10th District case to occur sometime in the next few months.

How an Idea Becomes a Bill (hopefully)

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 15:53:15 GMT

Mobile Home Workgroup takes on financing and titling code

When Zack Eckles read the 2025 Pew report recommending that state change title policies to make more manufactured home buyers eligible for mortgages and ensure reasonable consumer protections in contract financing, he saw the possibility for legislation that could be politically achievable in Ohio.

Caitlyn McDaniels, senior attorney at LASCO and chair of the Mobile Home Workgroup, shared the Pew study on manufactured home financing with the group last summer. The study found that most states title manufactured homes as personal property rather than real estate, which makes many manufactured home buyers ineligible for mortgages and dependent on risky contract financing, including retail installment contracts - seller-financed home purchase transactions where the buyer makes payments directly to the seller, and the seller does not transfer the title to the buyer until the house has been paid in full.

“Legislation that would allow manufactured homes on rented lots to be titled as real estate and therefore eligible for traditional mortgage options could win support from tenant advocates due to the increased consumer protections and the manufactured home industry if it would help them sell more homes,” Eckles said.

Members of the Mobile Home Workgroup agreed to work with Eckles to review the existing code and see what manufactured home titling and financing inequities could be solved by legislation. Next steps will be to shop their ideas around with obvious allies – other affordable housing advocates and consumer protection advocates. Then they will move on to questionable allies, and finally – once they have a coalition of support – they will look for an effective pair of legislators willing to co-sponsor and champion the bill.

“If we can get better financing options, which would benefit buyers and sellers, we may be able to pair it with statute reforms that curb predatory lending,” Eckles said.

The process won’t be quick, but the group is poised with members who are experts on retail installment contracts and mobile home financing, including Peggy Lee, Kacie Philpot, Caitlyn McDaniel, Mike Lawson, and Patrick Maloney of LASCO; Luke Condon and Mike Hamper of The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland; and Ryan Maxwell of Community Legal Aid.

Wills and Estate Plans Not Just for the Wealthy

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 16:30:02 GMT

How legal aid helps low-income seniors plan for their family’s future

When Howard Rabb, a former private practice attorney who specialized in estate planning and bankruptcy, tells people he is now a contract attorney for The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland , they assume he is doing bankruptcy work.

He’s not. Rabb works for Legal Aid’s Economic Justice Group, helping low-income clients hold on to their wealth and pass it to the next generation.

Lack of estate planning impacts people with lower income and wealth

It’s a common misconception that people with low income or wealth have little need for a will. An estimated 67% of Americans don’t have estate plans, primarily because they believe they are not old enough or wealthy enough to need one. Some populations are even less likely to have an estate plan. While  55% of American households  making over $75,000 per year have a will, only 31% of those making under $30,000 do. And while approximately 40% of white people have a will,  only 28% of Black and 18% of Latinx people have one .

“I get the question all of the time,” Rabb said. “’You do estate planning for Legal Aid? Explain that to me.'”

Rabb explains it like this. “The people I meet with, their primary asset is their home. So most of their net worth is wrapped up in their house. From an estate planning perspective, it’s fairly simple to figure out how to make sure that asset ends up in the right person’s hands.”

But without an estate plan, inheriting a house gets complicated, especially for people with less means.

Rabb tells a common narrative. “Grandma had a house. Twenty years after her death, her grandson is still living in the house, but he isn’t on the deed.”

Without his name on the deed, the grandson can’t remortgage the house or negotiate changes with the lender. He can’t apply for heating assistance or other grants available to low-income homeowners. If he gets behind on utilities and goes into default, he can't find out what’s going on with his account or how to remediate.

“It creates all sorts of problems if you don’t know what’s going on with your home because you’re not allowed to ask,” Rabb said.

What is an estate?

For many people, the word “estate” connotes wealth, but Denise Zanni, Senior Attorney at Legal Aid of Western Ohio (LAWO) explains otherwise.

“An estate is your car,” Zanni said. “An estate is your house or mobile home. An estate is your bank account no matter how much is in it.”

Zanni, who works exclusively with clients over 60, said that while some clients seek out her estate planning services, LAWO recognizes that many potential clients do not know they have the need. So the first step has to be education.

Zanni and her colleagues offer their Plan Ahead and Protect Yourself series at senior centers, Area Agency on Aging offices, and other community locations throughout their 32-county service area with topics like wills and estate planning, financial powers of attorney, healthcare powers of attorney, protecting assets, and recognizing scams. Depending on the topic, the Legal Aid attorneys offer a legal clinic immediately following the session or – for topics that require more in depth assistance – invite participants to make a follow up appointment.

Participants in the Plan Ahead series often report they were not aware of transfer on death affidavits and other methods for ensuring your home, car, and bank account transfer to the person of your choosing without a costly and time-consuming probate court case.

“We have to do what we can with the resources we have,” Zanni said, noting that limited Legal Aid funds make it challenging to commit attorney time to lengthy probate cases. “We really put an emphasis on education and advanced planning, so hopefully fewer people end up in probate.”

If you had to sign to get it, you have to sign to give it away

Miranda Anandappa, Senior Attorney with Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio , explained why everyone can benefit from an estate planning conversation with a lawyer.

“Because people don’t have a lot of money or a lot to their name, they think it’s going to be straight forward and everything will just go to their kids,” Anandappa said.

But it’s not that simple.

“You can think of it this way, if you had to sign paperwork to put your name on it - such as a deed, car title, or life insurance policy - then you're going to have to sign paperwork to make sure it transfers into someone else's name in the future.”

And there are other considerations.

Anandappa told the story of a client who was concerned about the welfare of their adult child with disabilities and planned to leave their house to their child upon their death. Anandappa explained to her clients that inheriting an asset of that amount – even if it’s a house with a relatively low value - would put the inheritor at risk of losing access to SSI and Medicaid.

“Someone who can’t do activities of daily living can’t afford to lose their Medicaid,” Anandappa explained. She advised the parents to create a trust that would allow their child to benefit from the asset without endangering critical services.

"The parents were very relieved,” Anandappa said, “because they wanted to leave their kid in a good position.” Meeting with a Legal Aid attorney prevented them from doing the opposite.

Contact the legal aid organization in your region to learn more about will and estate planning services for Ohioans age 60+ with low incomes.

Thank you to Leah Markovich, Development and Communications Senior Manager at The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, for her contributions to this article.

Legal Aid Attorneys Explain Impact of Inadequate Protection of SNAP Cards

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 18:27:27 GMT

Cyber criminals have stolen $17 million of food stamp funds from Ohio individuals and families. Chip technology could help.

At the invitation of Representative Kellie Deeter (R-Norwalk), several legal aid attorneys recently gave testimony to the Ohio House Agriculture Committee on House Bill 163, sponsored by Deeter and Representative Tristan Rader (D-Lakewood). The bill would leverage federal dollars to enable SNAP EBT cards with chip technology to protect critical funds that Ohioans need to pay for groceries. If passed, the new law would be known as the Enhanced Cybersecurity for SNAP Act of 2025.

In recent years, many individuals who rely on SNAP benefits to feed themselves and their families have been victims of electronic skimming fraud. “Skimmers” hide a device on card-swiping machines at check-out counters to capture card information. After capturing the data, they use the funds on the card, typically in a few quick online transactions initiated out of state.

“For many individuals, this fraud occurs in the first few days after benefits were loaded, leaving them without benefits until the next month,” Policy Advocate Danielle DeLeon Spires of the Ohio Poverty Law Center said during her May 28 testimony to the Ohio House Agricultural Committee.

As anyone who has ever had unauthorized charges appear on their credit card knows, the cardholder rarely loses money because of fraudulent use of their card information. The Fair Credit Billing Act limits the consumers’ liability for unauthorized charges to $50, and most credit cards have zero-liability policies, which further assure cardholders they will not be responsible for any unauthorized charges. Unauthorized charges are typically removed as soon as they are reported, and since the banks and vendors absorb the cost of credit card fraud, credit card companies are motivated to temporarily deactivate a card if they notice an atypical pattern of charges.

The same is not true for SNAP electronic benefit cardholders.

As of early March 2025, skimmers had taken SNAP funds from over 31,000 Ohioans at an estimated cost of $17 million dollars. From mid-2023 through December 2024, victims of SNAP skimming could apply to the federal government for reimbursement funds, which took time to process and required families to rely on food pantries and other local safety net resources while waiting for funds to be restored. Since Congress did not extend the SNAP skimming reimbursement funding beyond 2024, now a victim of SNAP benefit theft has no path to recover those critical funds. Once they are stolen, they are gone.

Enabling all SNAP EBT cards with chip technology would greatly reduce the risk of SNAP skimming and keep tax dollars in the hands of those who need them to feed their families rather than cybercriminals who are defrauding the system. And while there is an upfront cost to administering the change, the USDA reimburses 50% of a state’s implementation expenses.

Without chip security, many Ohioans continue to experience the loss of SNAP benefits and the cascade of compounding challenges that follow.

Attorney Deborah K. Dallmann of The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland testified about many constituents who have come to legal aid seeking help recovering stolen SNAP funds.

A 72-year-old gentleman living only on Social Security called Cleveland Legal Aid asking why his SNAP card had a zero balance and showed purchases in New York when he had never been to New York.
A 74-year-old woman lost the $460 in unduly withheld SNAP benefits that had just been restored to her account.
A veteran living on only $1,300 a month in VA service-connected benefits, paying almost half of that for rent, had his $158 in SNAP stolen.

Paralegal Patrina Queen of Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio who serves Ohioans from rural Appalachian counties told legislators about the hardships constituents face when their SNAP benefits get skimmed:

A young mother worried she would be evicted because she had to use rent money for food while she waited for replacement SNAP benefits. (And now those replacement benefits are no longer available.)
A homeless veteran who was ill and in and out of the hospital was unable to connect with ODJFA when his benefits were skimmed.
A single, disabled individual whose multiple health conditions require her to maintain strict dietary restrictions was devastated to find a zero balance on her card at the beginning of the month.
When a mother of five, who described how carefully she shopped to make her SNAP benefits last through the month, had her benefits stolen, her ex filed for emergency custody of the children.

To date, most attempts to solve the SNAP skimming problem have all required protective action by the SNAP recipient, with little responsibility taken for theft prevention by ODJFS. SNAP participants are advised to change their PINs frequently and use an app to lock their card, waiting until they get to the checkout counter to unlock. Queen told of constituents in rural counties who do not use the app to lock their SNAP card because there is not always a phone signal or internet connection at the stores where they shop, and they don’t want to risk not being able to pay because they can’t unlock their SNAP card.

In her testimony to the House Agriculture Committee, Attorney Regina Campbell of the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati explained why protective measures on the part of the recipient aren’t enough.

“We have developed education materials to show people how to lock their EBT card by using the Conduent app,” Campbell wrote, “however, this process is difficult and time consuming for many. They must be tech savvy enough to understand how to use the app, and have the technology available to access the app. Many of our clients have smart phones, but many do not. Many understand how to use the app to lock their card, but many do not. And if the card is locked, and somehow the person does not have access to data or Wi-Fi when they need to unlock the card, they are left without use of their benefits. At best it’s an imperfect solution to a very straightforward issue – Ohio's EBT cards do not contain the technology necessary to protect SNAP benefits.”

Read full testimony from Ohio’s legal aid advocates here:

Removing Funds for Civil Legal Services from the State Budget Would Harm Ohio Veterans

Thu, 05 Jun 2025 17:31:49 GMT

Alliance Testifies before Ohio Senate Finance to Retain General Revenue Funds Earmarked for Civil Legal Services for Veterans and Those Impacted by the Opioid Epidemic

House Bill 96 Interested Party Testimony

Senate Finance Committee

Kathleen McGarvey, Vice Chair

Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids

June 6, 2025

Chair Cirino, Vice Chair Chavez, Ranking Member Hicks-Hudson, and Members of the Finance Committee, thank you for the opportunity to provide interested party testimony on House Bill 96. My name is Kate McGarvey, and I am the Executive Director of Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio. I also have the honor of working with my Legal Aid Society colleagues and serve as Vice Chair of our membership organization, the Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids (Alliance).

The Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids is a collaboration among Ohio’s regional nonprofit Legal Aid Societies. Collectively, we serve every county in Ohio. We provide high quality free civil legal assistance to low-income Ohioans. You can see the list of our members at the conclusion of this testimony.

In 2024, Alliance members served over 140,000 Ohioans including over 60,000 children, 19,000 seniors, 18,000 people with disabilities, 5,300 domestic violence survivors, 4,700 households impacted by the opioid crisis, and 3,700 veterans.

We have been grateful to the Ohio State Legislature, which for the last five general assemblies has allocated a $1 million per year cash transfer from the General Revenue Fund to the Legal Aid Fund. This GRF funding has been earmarked to serve the civil legal needs of income-eligible veterans and people impacted by the opioid epidemic, two groups of clients who require extra outreach and services to resolve legal issues.

We ask that you restore that $1million/annual allocation that benefits veterans and opioid impacted Ohioans by including Senator Theresa Gavarone’s amendment SC2611 in the forthcoming omnibus amendment to the HB 96 sub bill.

Of the 3,700+ cases in which Ohio legal aid firms represented veterans in 2024, we found the most common challenges your veteran constituents faced were housing related. From rental property negligence to housing discrimination, mortgage foreclosure to unlawful mobile home park practices, Ohio’s veterans come to legal aid for help maintaining one of the most basic needs: a safe, affordable place to live.

Addressing civil legal issues can be life changing. For low-income Ohioans like Kimberley, not having legal ownership of their home can mean the loss of financial and housing stability. Kimberly, a disabled Air Force veteran, regularly made the trip from her rental in Columbus to visit her Aunt Carol in Frankfort to help with housekeeping and grocery shopping. When her aunt passed away, Kimberley’s cousins agreed she should inherit Carol’s house even though the will gave it to several relatives. With their encouragement, Kimberley moved into the home. But when she began paying the mortgage, she learned that her aunt had been behind on payments. Kimberley attempted to negotiate with the lender but was unable to because she was not the borrower. She called legal aid for help. Over the next several months a legal aid attorney worked with Kimberly to collect the waivers from various family members that she would need to file with the court and successfully transfer the home into her name. Kimberley told us that she would not have been able to own a home if it were not for help from legal aid.

This is just one example of how legal aid helps veterans. After housing needs, the most common civil legal issues we assist veterans with relate to aging, including preparing wills and advanced directives, securing safe home-based or long-term care, and accessing Medicare and social security, as well as the Veteran benefits they earned by serving our country.

Including Senator Theresa Gavarone’s amendment SC2611 in the budget omnibus amendment would continue Ohio’s tradition of ensuring that our veterans have access to the civil legal services they need to stay housed, access healthcare, and age with dignity.

Thank you for the opportunity to share information about our life-changing work.

Sincerely,

Kate McGarvey

Executive Director, Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio

Vice Chair, Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids
kmcgarvey@lasco.org
614-737-0146
Fax:614-224-4514

ohiolegalaids.org

Members of the Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids

Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc.
Community Legal Aid
The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland
Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati
Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio, LLC
Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio
Legal Aid of Western Ohio
Northeast Ohio Legal Aid
Ohio Poverty Law Center
Pro Seniors

Increased Funding for Legal Aid Would Help Rural Ohioans Maintain Housing Stability

Thu, 29 May 2025 17:17:13 GMT

Alliance Submits Testimony in Favor of Including a Housing Defense Fund in the State Operating Budget

House Bill 96 Interested Party Testimony

Senate Finance Committee

Kathleen McGarvey, Vice Chair

Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids

May 29, 2025

In 2024, Alliance members served over 140,000 Ohioans including 60,000 children, 19,000 seniors, 18,000 people with disabilities, and 3,700 veterans. We helped 3,200 Ohioans seal or expunge their criminal records and 952 Ohioans reinstate driver’s licenses, removing barriers to employment. And we helped 5,300 domestic violence survivors achieve safety.

But overwhelmingly, the most common challenge our clients face, whether they live in urban centers, small townships, or unincorporated rural areas, is securing safe and stable housing. Close to a third of the 60,000+ legal aid cases in Ohio last year were housing related.

How Legal Aid Serves Ohioans with Housing Needs

Who comes to legal aid for help with housing problems? They are families facing imminent eviction when a one-month extension would give them time to transition without needing the support of local safety net services. They are tenants of large housing complexes enduring months without electricity and other utility lapses. They are children in treatment for asthma exacerbated by unresolved mold and other environmental issues caused by neglected properties. They are seniors living on fixed incomes in a mobile home they own, being exploited by out-of-state LLCs that buy mobile home parks and impose unlawful rate changes and arbitrary fees. And they are low-income Ohioans at risk of losing a family home – the one asset they can pass to the next generation – due to foreclosure or rising property tax rates.

Access to a legal aid attorney is often the last line of defense between a household and the cascade of compounding challenges that come with the

loss of housing including loss of income and healthcare, disruption of education, food insecurity, exacerbation of medical conditions, loss of personal property, and increased vulnerability to unsafe living conditions. Whether helping tenants escrow their rent until a landlord restores utilities, resolving a title problem that’s preventing a veteran from making critical repairs to their family home, or identifying that a senior is being charged fees prohibited by law or not included in their lease, legal aid attorneys help families stay housed and avoid disrupting employment, health, and education.

Need Surpasses Resources

Unfortunately, at current funding levels, Ohio’s legal aid firms have the capacity to serve only one out of every two requests from individuals who are eligible for our services.

If passed, budget amendment SC2158 would stabilize the availability of civil legal services for low-income Ohioans facing critical housing issues. By establishing a Legal Services Housing Defense fund with an allocation of $5,000,000 each fiscal year, the amendment would increase the capacity for this critical work and insulate its funding from the impact of fluctuating funding sources.

Disproportionate Need for Legal Services in Rural Counties

Given current private law practice trends, instituting a stable source of funding for housing legal defense will be particularly important for rural communities. In its 2024 report, the Rural Practice Gap Taskforce of the Ohio State Bar Association found that “the number of attorneys in private practice in rural areas is not keeping pace to provide sufficient access to legal services in these communities" and that soon “large swathes of the state will not have access to an attorney in their area.” [i]

Legal aid firms make it a priority to bring skilled attorneys to rural offices in Ohio’s poorest counties. But with fewer local governments or private funders who supplement legal aid services in rural counties, reliable funding from the State of Ohio is becoming increasingly essential to ensuring access to justice in those regions.

Return on Investment

Investing in legal services that helps low-income Ohioans maintain and stabilize housing helps individual constituents as well as the communities they live in. Independent studies of the impact of legal aid’s housing cases in Ohio consistently show a significant return on investment.

Most recently, a January 2025 study by Stout [ii] found that the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County stimulated $2.46 of economic growth for every dollar they spent on eviction defense by

Decreasing the incremental need for social safety net responses such as emergency shelter, rapid re-housing, out-of-home foster care placements, and Medicaid-funded healthcare;
Preserving economic value by retaining workers and consumers and sustaining per capita education funding for children living in the district; and,
Reducing crime and an incarceration associated with the criminalization of homelessness.

We ask that you please support the Legal Services Housing Defense Fund amendment (SC2158) that would help stabilize legal aid services for your constituents across the state and particularly in rural counties. In so doing, you will ease the strain on local services, preserve the workforce, and stimulate economic growth in your districts.

Members of the Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids

· Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc.

· Community Legal Aid

· The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland

· Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati

· Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio, LLC

· Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio

· Legal Aid of Western Ohio

· Northeast Ohio Legal Aid

· Ohio Poverty Law Center

· Pro Seniors

[i] Report of the Ohio State Bar Association Rural Practice Gap Task Force: https://www.ohiobar.org/globalassets/advocacy/access-to-justice/report-of-the-rural-practice-gap-task-force.pdf

[ii] Stout’s Independent Evaluation of Cleveland’s Eviction Right to Counsel Annual Report for the Period of January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024: https://freeevictionhelpresults.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Stouts-2024-Independent-Evaluation-of-Clevelands-Eviction-Right-to-Counsel_FINAL_2025.01.31.pdf

Ohio Is Underfunding Legal Aid. That Could Change.

Fri, 28 Mar 2025 13:49:32 GMT

State lawmakers have an opportunity to increase legal aid funding in the 2026-2027 Biennial Budget.

According to Legal Services Corporation (LSC) data, Ohio’s poverty rate (13.4%) is the highest in the Midwest, with more people living in poverty in Ohio than in any other state in the Midwest or any of Ohio’s neighboring states.

One of the contributing factors to the poverty cycle is the disproportionate impact of the legal system. The LSC 2022 Justice Gap Study found that 74% of low-income households experienced one or more civil legal problems in the past year, while 39% experienced five or more compounding civil legal problems. But due to limited resources, legal aid organizations turn away one out of every two requests.

The inability to resolve one legal problem can trigger new legal problems all of which create barriers to those trying to build financial stability for themselves and their families. For example:

The inability to pay a fine results in a driver’s license suspension, which results in the inability to maintain stable employment, housing, and food security.
The inability to adjust to an unanticipated rent increase results in the loss of a home, which can lead to income instability for parents, education gaps for children, and increased family healthcare needs and costs.

This budget season, the Ohio State Legislature has the opportunity to help Ohioans interrupt the limiting cycle of unresolved civil legal issues by increasing funding for legal aid in the 2026-2027 Biennial Budget. If included in the budget, amendment HC1309 would allocate $10 million of general revenue funding for legal aid around the state.

Ohio is underfunding legal aid

Civil legal aid is a combination of services and resources that helps income-eligible Ohioans of all backgrounds – including children, veterans, seniors, ill or disabled people, and victims of domestic violence – effectively navigate the civil justice system. Legal aid helps people stabilize income and housing, protect against violence, avoid exploitation, and gain equitable access to education, public assistance, healthcare, and employment. In 2023, Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids member organizations provided free civil legal services to more than 135,000 Ohioans from all 88 Ohio counties.

Still, in proportion to its poverty population, each of Ohio’s neighboring states invests more general revenue funds (GRF) in legal aid than Ohio.

Other states around the country are taking even bolder measures to decrease the justice gap that keeps low-income families within the cycle of poverty.

An annual investment of $10 million would bring Ohio in line with Michigan and other states across the country investing to close the justice gap with a rate of $6.54 per person living below the poverty level.

Key legal system studies support increased resources for Legal Aid

In its 2024 Rural Practice Gap Taskforce Report , the Ohio State Bar Association found that “based on current data, a crisis is looming for rural Ohio if trends continue, where large swathes of the state will not have access to an attorney in their area.” The taskforce noted that “Legal aid continues to fill a critical need in our communities yet receives very little direct state support” and recommended “seeking additional public funding for legal aid, particularly from the state.”

In its 2024 report, the Supreme Court of Ohio Reentry Taskforce advised that “the Supreme Court should partner with Ohio’s legal assistance programs to engage volunteers to help meet the current needs of legal services of returning citizens, including exploring funding for legal clinics, expanding volunteer roles, securing funds for marketing reentry assistance, developing a statewide initiative for reinstatement clinics, and evaluating collateral consequences of criminal convictions.”

Investing in legal aid is investing in Ohio’s families, Ohio’s workforce, and Ohio’s future.

It's time for our state lawmakers to invest in services that will help the more than 1.5 million Ohioans living in poverty access quality housing, remove barriers to employment, and address other critical civil legal issues that limit financial stability. It's time to include a line item for legal aid in the budget.

Read Alliance testimony before the House Finance Committee in favor of adding a budget line item for Legal Aid.

Increased State Funding for Legal Aid Would Help Ohioans Like Mr. McAllister

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 16:55:38 GMT

Alliance Vice Chair Kate McGarvey Testifies before the Ohio House Finance Committee

House Bill 96 Interested Party Testimony

House Finance Committee

Kathleen McGarvey, Vice-Chair

Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids

March 13, 2024

Chair Stewart, Vice Chair Dovilla, Ranking Member Sweeney, and Members of the Finance Committee, thank you for the opportunity to provide interested party testimony on House Bill 96. My name is Kate McGarvey, and I am the Executive Director of Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio. I also have the honor of working with my Legal Aid Society colleagues and serve as Vice Chair of our membership organization, the Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids (Alliance).

Unlike in the criminal justice system, there is no right to an attorney in civil cases. Yet the civil justice system can provide the key for families to access housing, health, safety, and economic security. Civil legal aid is a combination of services and resources that helps Ohioans of all backgrounds–including those who face the toughest legal challenges: children, veterans, seniors, and victims of domestic violence–to effectively navigate the justice system.

In 2023, Alliance members served nearly 136,000 Ohioans including 59,000 children, 18,000 seniors, and 3,700 veterans. We helped 2,700 Ohioans seal or expunge their criminal records and 765 Ohioans reinstate driver’s licenses, removing barriers to employment. We helped nearly 5,000 domestic violence survivors achieve safety and helped thousands of Ohioans with housing stability through eviction and foreclosure assistance.

Addressing civil legal issues can be life changing. For low-income Ohioans like Bernard McAllister (name changed to protect client privacy) the economic security can be lost if they don’t legally own Page 2 their home. Mr. McAllister, a proud veteran, lived in his family home for many years and wanted to maintain and update it. He sought help from legal aid when he learned that, despite his father willing the house to him and his siblings, he couldn’t qualify for a home weatherization program because he didn’t own the home.

With the full support of his siblings, legal aid helped Mr. McAllister accomplish all the legal work necessary to transfer the deed to his name. Legally securing his family home not only gave Mr. McAllister stability and peace of mind, but it also enabled him to access the weatherization program, which will help him improve the home’s energy efficiency, reduce his energy costs, and create an even more valuable asset for him to be able to share with future generations.

That is just one example of legal aid’s far-reaching impact. However, the need is always greater than resources—legal aid turns away approximately one out of every two requests. The budget of each legal aid firm includes federal resources, interest on attorney trust accounts, some revenue from court filing fees, foundation grants, and individual fundraising. I am here today to ask you to further invest in our work.

Currently, Ohio is at the bottom when compared to general revenue investments made in surrounding states and far less than state leaders like Texas and Virginia. While we are grateful for every dollar we receive, we currently receive just $1 million annually in general revenue funding and the use of these funds is restricted to veterans and individuals with legal issues arising from substance use disorders.

We ask that you please support an amendment that would appropriate $10 million to support legal aid services in every part of the state. These funds will help Legal Aid continue to provide critical services to your constituents and address specific community needs.

Low-income Ohioans like Mr. McAllister count on our services to provide stability to their families and we are counting on you to help us provide those services to your constituents.

Thank you for the opportunity to share information about our life-changing work and I would be happy to answer any questions.

Members of the Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids

Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc.
Community Legal Aid
The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland
Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati
Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio, LLC
Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio
Legal Aid of Western Ohio
Northeast Ohio Legal Aid
Ohio Poverty Law Center
Pro Seniors

Ohio Alliance of Legal Aids Monitoring Proposed Changes to Medicaid

Tue, 18 Feb 2025 15:25:05 GMT

Ohio Department of Medicaid’s proposed work requirements do not follow the indications of its own research

Ohio’s legal aid organizations and the Ohio Poverty Law Center are monitoring proposed eligibility and funding changes to Medicaid, which currently provides health insurance to more than 3 million Ohioans with low income. In addition to improving health outcomes and life expectancy, access to healthcare underscores the ability to limit debt and maintain steady employment and school attendance.

If you’re not a Medicaid expert, here’s some background to help you understand the current situation:

Pre-ACA: Prior to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Medicaid insurance was mainly available to children and their caregivers, people with disabilities, and pregnant women, with states having some flexibility to set their own income-eligibility requirements.

The FMAP: The portion of a state’s Medicaid expenditures that the federal government pays is called the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP). The FMAP percentage rate is different for different eligibility categories. Ohio’s FMAP rates for those Pre-ACA Medicaid enrollee groups generally range between 60% and 80%.

Medicaid Expansion and Group VIII: In 2014 the ACA authorized states to expand Medicaid to include individuals between the ages of 18 and 65 with incomes less than 138% of the poverty level. (That’s about $21,000/year for a single individual in 2025.) The Medicaid term for this new set of enrollees is Group VIII.

90% FMAP for Group VIII: The federal government incentivizes states to participate in Medicaid expansion by setting the FMAP rate at 90% for this enrollee group, meaning that Ohio only pays 10% of what it costs to provide Medicaid to Group VIII.

700,000 Group VIII Ohioans: More than 700,000 of the 3 million Ohioans enrolled in Medicaid fall within the Group VIII category.

So what’s going on right now?

The Ohio Biennial State Budget

Last week the Ohio House of Representatives introduced its proposed state operating budget (House Bill 96). So far, the Ohio Poverty Law Center Policy Analyst Danielle De Leon Spires has identified two provisions in the 4,000+ page bill that have the potential to impact access to Medicaid. They are:

Group VIII trigger law: Section 126.70 states that should the Group VIII FMAP drop below 90%, the Ohio Department of Medicaid will immediately discontinue all medical assistance for the 700,000+ Ohioans who now qualify in Group VIII.

Federal cuts may lead to state cuts: Section 126.10 is less specific and could result in broader cuts to Medicaid. It states that if the federal government reduces, discontinues, pauses, or otherwise suspends any federal programs that provide federal funds for any corresponding state program, that program may be reduced, discontinued, paused, or suspended.

Ohio Department of Medicaid Group VIII Waiver Application

The Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) is preparing to submit a demonstration waiver application, requesting that the Secretary of Health and Human Services permit Ohio to mandate that Group VIII Medicaid enrollees satisfy work requirements. ODM’s stated goals of the waiver are to “promote economic stability and financial independence” and “improve health outcomes by encouraging individuals to be engaged with their health and healthcare.”

The Ohio Poverty Law Center and members of the Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids Health and Public Benefits Taskforce submitted comments in opposition to the work requirement, citing research that indicates the requested waiver actually undermines its own stated purpose. Medicaid, without cumbersome work requirements, has already been shown to reduce barriers to employment while the chief outcome of imposing work requirements on Group VIII members has been a significant reduction Medicaid enrollment.

Some highlights from the Alliance’s opposition comments:

Health status is the strongest predictor of work*: While Ohio’s waiver application presumes that employment improves health outcomes, research, including ODM’s own studies, shows it is the other way around. The availability of medical coverage and access to healthcare reduces barriers to employment.

ODM’s 2016 assessment of Group VIII enrollees showed that enrollment in Medicaid made it easier to continue working or seek work.**

In 2018, ODM found the same. Nine out of 10 Group VIII enrollees reported that having Medicaid made it easier to continue working.***

A study of Arkansas’s Medicaid work requirements showed that they resulted in no significant changes in employment or hours worked. In fact, prior to the implementation of the work requirements, 95% of the target population already met the requirement or qualified for an exemption.****

Work requirements reduce access to care with no apparent gain: The Center for Community Solutions calculates that up to 450,000 Ohioans are at risk of losing Medicaid coverage under the terms of the proposed waiver.5 Any waiver that has the net effect of reducing coverage by tens of thousands of individuals (at a minimum) fails to further the Medicaid program’s most basic goal: to provide medical assistance to people whose income and resources are not sufficient to pay for the costs of necessary medical care.

Barriers to employment should not be barriers to health insurance: 64% of Ohio adults aged 18 – 64 are already working. For those who are not, research shows several barriers that limit capacity for employment, including access to childcare, transportation, and caregiving roles. While the waiver allows for exemptions, many of these documented barriers would not qualify for an exemption.

Increased costs with no programmatic gain: Reduced Medicaid enrollment will result in increased individual premiums. That coupled with the cost of administering the work requirement program will result in a net increase in the total cost of Medicaid services in Ohio.

County JFS offices negligent in screening for work requirement exceptions: The Federal Department of Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) has reported for several years that Ohio’s County Departments of Job and Family Services are not adequately conducting work requirement screenings for SNAP applicants, leaving many who should be eligible for exemptions without SNAP benefits. The same County Departments would be responsible for screening Group VIII Medicaid enrollees.

Read the full comments on the Medicaid Group VIII waiver application:

We will continue to post funding and programmatic Medicaid updates as they emerge.

*Madeline Guth et al., Understanding the Intersection of Medicaid and Work: A Look at What the Data Say, Kaiser Fam. Found. (Apr. 25, 2023), https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/understanding-the-intersection-of-medicaid-work-a-look-at-what-the-data-say/ .

**Ohio Medicaid Group VIII Assessment: A Report to the Ohio General Assembly, The Ohio Department of Medicaid (2016) at 4, https://medicaid.ohio.gov/wps/wcm/connect/gov/b0779c0a-5061-45f9-b441-9bf06e2f0070/Group-VIII

***2018 Ohio Medicaid Group VII Assessment: A Follow-Up to the 2016 Ohio Medicaid Group VIII Assessment, The Ohio Department of Medicaid (Aug. 2018) at 21, https://medicaid.ohio.gov/wps/wcm/connect/gov/2468a404- 5b09-4b85-85cd-4473a1ec8758/Group-VIII-FinalReport.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CONVERT_TO=url&CACHEID=ROOTWORKSPACE.Z18_K9I401S01H7F40QBNJU3SO1F56 -2468a404-5b09-4b85-85cd-4473a1ec8758-nAUQnlt .

****Benjamin Sommers, Medicaid Work Requirements – Results from the First Year in Arkansas, The New England J. of Medicine (June 19, 2019), https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMsr1901772 .

Advocacy to Curb Debt-Related Driver’s License Suspensions Results in a Win for Low-Income Ohioans

Thu, 09 Jan 2025 15:26:38 GMT

Alliance member organizations led the fight to get Ohioans back on the road.

On April 10, 2025, hundreds of thousands of Ohioans whose driver’s licenses were suspended for failure to pay a court fine or fee will be eligible to get their licenses back without imposition of reinstatement fees, and Ohioans will no longer have driver’s licenses suspended for owing a court fine or fee, for minor drug offenses, or for truancy.

With Governor Mike DeWine’s signing of House Bill 29 yesterday, Ohio joined 24 other states around the country who have eliminated or reduced debt-related driver’s license suspensions. These suspensions, which accounted for 60% of Ohio’s driver’s license suspensions despite having no connection to dangerous driving offenses, disproportionately indebted residents of Ohio’s highest poverty zip codes and zip codes with the highest percentages of people of color, according to The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland’s 2022 study, Road to Nowhere: Debt-Related Driver’s License Suspensions in Ohio.

Among other changes, House Bill 29:

Eliminates the driver’s license suspension for failure to pay a court fine or fee.
Applies the removal of license suspensions for failure to pay a court fine or fee both retroactively and automatically, without imposition of reinstatement fees.
Removes the possible penalty of a driver’s license suspension for a drug abuse offense, unless the offense relates to causing others to use, manufacture, or traffic and the offender used a vehicle to further the commission of the offense.
Reduces the lookback period for driving without insurance offenses to be considered repeat offenses from five years to one year.
Eliminates school truancy as a reason for license denial or suspension.
Authorizes a person whose driver’s license is suspended for failure to pay child support to file a motion with a court for limited driving privileges in all circumstances, not just when the motion is made during contempt proceedings as under current law.

Priya Sarathy Jones, co-executive director of The Fines and Fees Justice Center, said the passage of HB 29 was years in the making and marks a “tipping point” for ending debt-related suspensions in the US. “In half the country, in both red and blue states, policymakers have recognized that your financial circumstances should never determine your freedom to drive,” Jones said. “The Fines and Fees Justice Center is deeply grateful to the organizations, communities, and directly impacted Ohioans who earned this victory, and we are eager to continue working with legislators and advocates across the country to drive policy change that impacts real people’s lives.”

The Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids and our member organizations have long identified debt-related suspensions as a part of the cycle that keeps Ohio’s poorest residents from achieving financial stability. Each year, legal aid organizations serve hundreds of clients who have suspended driver's licenses. Without the ability to drive, most Ohioans cannot maintain steady employment, which forces those without disposable income to choose between driving without a license – and risking further fines – or losing wages and jeopardizing any means of regaining their license and ability to meet basic needs. In 2023, 765 Ohioans worked with legal aid advocates to reinstate a suspended driver’s license.

Having heard enough stories of clients struggling to maintain jobs and meet basic needs due to license suspensions, The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland conducted an analysis of survey responses from people impacted by debt-related driver’s license suspensions, five years of data (2016-2020) from Ohio’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles on the numbers and locations of debt-related suspensions across the State, as well as the costs assessed, paid, and owed for these suspensions.

The stark findings published in The Road to Nowhere – Ohioans in zip codes with the highest poverty rates faced nearly 40 times as many debt-related suspensions as those in the areas with the least poverty – gave Ohio Poverty Law Center (OPLC) staff highly compelling evidence to make the case for legislation that would end this barrier to financial stability.

Senator Louis Blessing III (R-Colerain Township) and Senator Catherine Ingram (D-Cincinnati) initiated legislation to reduce debt-related license suspensions in January of 2023 with Senate Bill 37, starting a two-year campaign to help lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, as well as employers, local elected officials, and other stakeholders, understand the ethical and economic arguments for eliminating the practice. Legal aid attorneys across the state reviewed draft legislation language and amendments, participated in media interviews sharing the stories of Ohioans caught in the double bind of debt-related driver’s license suspensions, and wrote op-eds for regional publications. As the 135th General Assembly drew to a close last month without the passage of SB 37, OPLC worked with Senate Judiciary Chair Nathan Manning (R-North Ridgeville) to facilitate its inclusion into House Bill 29.

While the passage of HB 29 has the potential to be a gamechanger for hundreds of thousands of Ohioans, its impact will be realized only to the extent that those enduring a debt-related suspension become aware their license can be reinstated. “With the Governor’s signature on the bill,” Susan Jagers, Director of the Ohio Poverty Law Center said, “the work now begins to implement the new policy and put Ohioans back in the driver’s seat.”

As we move into 2025, the Alliance will prioritize raising public awareness about the new legislation, and helping Ohioans get back on the road.

Thank you to the many organizations who supported the passage of this critical legislation, including:

ACLU of Ohio

Americans for Prosperity – Ohio

Cuyahoga County Public Defender’s Office

Fines and Fees Justice Center

Justice Action Network

Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio

Levin College of Public Affairs and Education

Cleveland State University

National Legal Aid & Defender Association

Neighborhood Connections

Ohio Poverty Law Center

Policy Matters Ohio

Prison Fellowship

R Street Institute

Responsible Business Initiative for Justice

The Buckeye Institute

The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland

Towards Employment

United Way of Greater Lorain County

United Way of Summit & Medina

National Poverty in America Awareness Month

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 18:04:50 GMT

Poverty in Ohio Overview

13.4% of Ohioans live in households with incomes at or below the federal poverty level.*
29.6% of Ohioans live in households with incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty level.*
17.7% of Ohio's children live in poverty, with almost 1 in 5 children under age 6 in poverty.*
15.8 percent of the people in urban places experience poverty, compared with 10.0 percent in rural areas; within metropolitan areas, 25.7 percent of those living in the central or principal cites are poor, while 10.1 percent of residents in other metropolitan urban areas are poor.**
17.0 percent of the people in Appalachian Ohio, 32 counties stretching across the eastern and southern regions of the state, are poor. Adams, Athens, Gallia, Meigs and Scioto – all Appalachian – had the highest poverty rates in the State, ranging from 30.6% to 22.4%.**

We use the terms "poor" and "in poverty" to mean a household income at or below the federal poverty level (FPL), but the FPL does not come close to what a family needs to adequately meet basic needs such as housing, food, and clothing. A family in Ohio needs an annual household income of between 183% FPL and 248% FPL (depending on the county) to be self-sufficient.**

Civil Legal Problems and the Poverty Cycle

One of the contributing factors to the poverty cycle is the disproportionate impact of the legal system. The Legal Services Corporation 2022 Justice Gap Study found that 74% of low-income households experienced one or more civil legal problems in the past year, while 39% experienced five or more compounding civil legal problems.

The inability to resolve one legal problem can trigger new legal problems all of which create barriers to those trying to build financial stability for themselves and their families. For example:

The inability to adjust to an unanticipated rent increase results in an eviction, which can lead to income instability for parents, education gaps for children, and increased family healthcare needs and costs.

How do legal aid organizations help?

Legal aid advocates across the State help Ohioans experiencing poverty resolve civil legal issues that stabilize income and housing, protect against violence, prevent exploitation, and gain equitable access to education, public assistance, healthcare, and employment.

Members of the Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids also work together to identify and address systemic barriers that disproportionately impact low-income Ohioans in critical areas like housing, education, employment, consumer protection, family law, healthcare access, immigration, and public benefits.

Here are some examples:

The Housing Market Contributes to the Poverty Cycle

Not enough affordable housing: For those at or below 50% of the Area Median Income (AMI) there are only 79 affordable and available units per 100 renter households. For those below 30% AMI, there are only 30 affordable and available units per 100 renter households.*
Rent outpaces income: Nearly half of Ohio’s renters are cost-burdened, which means they spend more than 30% of their income on housing.*
Nearly one in four children in Ohio (23%) live in cost-burdened households, or households that must spend more than 30% of income on housing and associated costs. Over half (53%) of children in low-income households are cost burdened. *
Cost-burdened households have less income for other necessities like food and transportation and are at an increased risk of frequent relocations and/or evictions. *
The frequent transitions caused by housing insecurity can impact children’s physical and mental health, social/emotional development, educational achievement, and involvement in criminal justice. *
The adverse outcomes of childhood housing insecurity underscore the continuation of poverty into the next generation.

How Legal Aid Organizations Intervene

Help low-income Ohioans avoid eviction and protect themselves from retaliatory actions when they report substandard housing conditions.
Help low-income Ohioans seal eviction records to improve their ability to secure safe and affordable housing for themselves and their families.
Advocate for fair and safe housing.
Monitor and investigate rental discrimination.
Fight predatory rental practices.
Preserve housing stability for low-income Ohioans, including seniors.

Food Insecurity Competes with Other Basic Needs

Children at increased risk of food insecurity in Ohio: 14.8% of children do not have consistent access to adequate food, as compared to 11.8% of the overall population.*
SNAP benefits falling short: In February of 2023, the pandemic-based expansion of SNAP benefits ended, meaning that nearly one and a half million Ohioans received less money for food. The portion of SNAP participants who could make their benefits last an entire month to drop from 30% during the pandemic to 5% now.*
Food banks stretched: As a result, food banks across the state have reported record demand for their services.*
WIC vendors diminishing: It is increasingly difficult for families to use Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) benefits to access food. Between 2015 and 2024 the number of WIC-authorized vendors in Ohio fell by 295, a 22% decrease. Nearly a third of Ohio counties have three or fewer WIC vendors, which means that some families most in need could not use their WIC benefits to provide food for their children.*
Social Security matters: 10.3% Ohioans ages 65 or older live in poverty, but the Poverty in Ohio Report estimates that without either social security or pensions, between 43% and 62% of seniors would be below the poverty level.**

How Legal Aid Organizations Help Families Stabilize Food Access

Help Ohioans reduce barriers to employment and housing so that more of their income can go toward food and other necessities.
Address improper denials and resolving delays in processing applications for benefits.
Monitor for and address the inequitable distribution of benefits.
Advocate for accessibility of public benefits applications and renewal processes.
Ensure the swift replacement of benefits lost to fraud.

Sources

* 2024 State of Poverty in Ohio Report , Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies.

** The Ohio Poverty Report , Department of Research, Ohio Development Service Agency

Legal Aid Organizations Expand Support for Opioid Epidemic Recovery with OneOhio Grants

Fri, 13 Dec 2024 15:42:11 GMT

Settlement money to grow treatment, recovery, and support services around the State

The OneOhio Recovery Foundation awarded several grants to Ohio legal aid organizations this month as part of its first cycle of distributing the settlement money Ohio continues to receive from pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacy chains as a result of their role in the national opioid epidemic. The State’s OneOhio plan charged the foundation with distributing 55% of the settlement funds to organizations providing short- and long-term planning and support to address the continuing crisis. The OneOhio plan calls for the remaining 45% of the settlement funds to go directly to localities (30%) to support community recovery and address immediate needs of residents, and the State (15%) to leverage statewide buying power to offer prevention, treatment, and recovery services.

While the connection between legal aid and those living with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) or Substance Use Disorder (SUD) may not seem obvious, legal aid organizations have been critical in helping those impacted by the epidemic stabilize their housing, family, employment, and health.

Due to the criminalization of addiction, SUD is a factor in 25% or more of criminal convictions, and time in the criminal justice system often serves to exacerbate the challenges a person in recovery faces, including securing a job or housing. Legal aid advocates help clients seal or expunge criminal records and reinstate driver's licenses so they can work toward financial stability.

By forming Medical Legal-Partnerships (MLPs) with OUD and SUD treatment providers, legal aid advocates become part of the support network, helping people in treatment resolve compounding legal issues – like bankruptcy, eviction, and loss of benefits – that threaten the success of their recovery.

Families impacted by the opioid epidemic often face civil legal issues that threaten safety and stability. Legal aid advocates can help grandparents and other family members assume guardianship of minors in need of care, assist parents in recovery to maintain or regain custody of their children, and represent those pursing divorce or protection from domestic violence achieve resolution and safety.

Legal aid organizations awarded funding by the OneOhio Recovery Foundation include:

Advocates for Basic Legal Equality (ABLE) for services in Defiance, Fulton, Henry, Paulding, Putnam, Van Wert, and Williams counties. ABLE will partner with rural treatment and recovery services to reach individuals impacted by OUD and help clients address civil legal issues related to the social determinants of health (SDOH). Additionally, ABLE will provide community trainings on SDOH and SUD to facilitate dialogue, increase awareness, and decrease stigma.

Community Legal Aid (CLA) for services in Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Trumbull, and Wayne counties. Funding will support CLA’s provision of free civil legal assistance to low-income residents who are recovering from addiction and need support sealing criminal records to successfully walk their sustainable paths to independence and wellbeing.

Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio (LASCO) for services in 23 counyies in region 9, region 12, and region 18. LASCO will establish and sustain new Medical-Legal Partnerships with rural treatment centers and prevention centers, providing enhanced and expanded free legal assistance to address social and legal barriers impacting successful treatment and recovery. LASCO will also conduct staff training and adjust intake processes to optimize inclusion of people living with opioid use disorder.

The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland (LASC) for services in Cuyahoga County. With OneOhio funding, LASC will expand their Medical-Legal Partnership with MetroHealth, which will help Cuyahoga County residents who have OUD or family members impacted by OUD address social determinants of health that may hinder their recovery and wellbeing. In addition to directly serving patients and their families, LASC advocates will identify areas for systemic change to remove barriers that prevent people impacted by OUD from pursuing opportunities, and train MetroHealth staff on the impact of civil legal issues on a person’s health.

If you are interested in partnering with legal aid to support opioid-impacted Ohioans' social determinants of health and economic stability, please contact the Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids .

If you or someone you know is impacted by opioid use disorder and facing legal barriers to personal, financial, and/or family stability. Please contact a legal aid organization to see how we can help.

Alliance Manager Enhances Capacity of Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids

Tue, 27 Aug 2024 17:03:13 GMT

For the first time since its formation in 2018, the Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids has established a staff person to support the Alliance’s ability to collaborate strategically, align advocacy efforts, and develop a statewide voice for legal aid programs and the people they serve.

Continuing Legal Education Should Include Focus on Access to Justice for Specially Protected and Historically Marginalized Groups

Mon, 29 Apr 2024 17:03:03 GMT

Alliance Response to Proposed Changes to CLE Requirements

"The proposed changes eliminate specific references to "race, ethnicity, foreign origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, socio-economic status, or other relevant topics.” These referenced groups have historically been marginalized and discriminated against in this country and have lacked access to justice and fairness. While the changes may be well-intentioned, the language moves away from identifying groups that require a concerted effort on the part of attorneys to address the challenges they have previously encountered, and those they still face today. The universal recognition of systemic discrimination in the legal system requires focused attention from practitioners and the organizations and bodies that oversee and train legal practitioners. The Supreme Court of Ohio found that this recognition is key to addressing the public’s concerns of the legal profession, “includ[ing] integrity, quality and fairness in the delivery of legal services and legal education in Ohio.”[1] Without a direct focus on access to justice and fairness for the most marginalized groups, we cannot overcome the effects systemic discrimination has had on these communities or public faith in the legal profession."

Use of Marijuana Tax Proceeds Should Help Reduce the Justice Gap

Tue, 12 Dec 2023 18:00:59 GMT

House Bill 354 Interested Party Testimony

House Finance Committee

Colleen Cotter, Chair and

Kathleen McGarvey, Vice Chair

Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids

December 12, 2023

Chair Edwards, Vice-Chair LaRe, Ranking Member Sweeney, thank you for the opportunity to provide interested party testimony on House Bill 354. We are Colleen Cotter, Executive Director of The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland and Kathleen McGarvey, Executive Director of Ohio State Legal Services Association. We also have the honor of working with our Legal Aid Society colleagues and serving as chair and vice-chair of our membership organization, the Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids.

In 2022, Alliance members served 132,640 individuals and their families. We helped 2,700 Ohioans seal or expunge their criminal records or reinstate driver’s licenses, removing barriers to employment and helped nearly 5,000 domestic violence survivors achieve safety. We helped thousands of Ohioans with housing stability through eviction and foreclosure assistance.

Addressing civil legal issues can be life changing. Consider the story of George Johnson. Mr. Johnson came to Legal Aid looking to expunge a minor misdemeanor drug conviction. He had paid all his fines, but having the conviction on his record was a barrier to employment even years later. Legal Aid helped Mr. Johnson complete the paperwork to file for an expungement. But lost paperwork and miscommunication back and forth with the court would hinder Mr. Johnson for months. A Legal Aid attorney stepped in, filing another motion to seal Mr. Johnson’s conviction record. The court finally scheduled a hearing and the judge granted the motion to seal the conviction records.

As Mr. Johnson described it, he just made a dumb mistake, hanging out with the wrong people. Because of Legal Aid, Mr. Johnson is now able to seek employment free of any shadows from his past and with the expungement of his criminal record, his fears and frustration of not being able to compete in the job market are alleviated. He has his second chance.

Mr. Johnson’s story illustrates how legal aids secure second chances. Expungement of past criminal records benefits individuals, families, and communities. It can remove barriers to employment, professional licenses, access to credit, and even housing.

As you finalize House Bill 354, we ask that you consider the important work of Legal Aid in your district. We ask that you direct cannabis tax revenue to expand the reach of our services.

In every Ohio House District, Legal Aid plays a critical role in helping to remove barriers to employment and support community development. Legal Aid helps individuals who have previously been arrested or incarcerated—and their family members who suffer financial harm—overcome the negative consequences of past convictions related to employment, business ownership, housing, health, and long-term financial well-being.

Specifically Legal Aid:

assists individuals with criminal record sealing and certificates of qualification for employment (CQEs) to remove barriers to employment,
represents low-income small business owners in helping to start new businesses and in navigating legal issues in their businesses,
represents individuals at risk of eviction and foreclosure, and
represents individuals faced with wage garnishments, debt collection lawsuits, and those in need of bankruptcy assistance.

The Legal Services Corporation’s most recent Justice Gap report shows that 74 percent of low-income households experienced at least one civil legal problem in the last year. More than half stated that these problems substantially impacted their lives. Unfortunately, the report shows that Legal Aids across the country must turn away one out of every two requests they receive due to limited resources. This is true throughout Ohio. Legal Aids have the skills to serve the needs of our communities and resolve fundamental civil legal issues. The only thing that prevents us meeting the critical needs of our communities – of your communities – is lack of resources. We have the ability to expand our services, with additional resources that the cannabis tax revenue can help provide.

Please consider using a portion of the marijuana tax proceeds to boost Legal Aid services across the state. We are asking for a percentage of the tax revenue that would generate at least $5 million annually. This would significantly increase the number of low-income Ohioans that Legal Aid can serve. It would bring stability to families across the state.

Thank you for your time and your consideration. We would be happy to answer any questions.

Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids Annual Report 2022

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 18:03:05 GMT

Enhancing civil legal aid and outcomes for clients through statewide collaboration

Read our 2022 Annual Report to learn how Ohio's legal aid organizations are helping Ohioans stabilize income and housing, protect against violence, avoid exploitation, and gain equitable access to education, public assistance, healthcare, and employment.

Read the full report to learn about each Ohio Legal Aid organization's impact.

Expansion of Ohio's EdChoice Scholarship Program Will Create Educational Injuries

Fri, 01 Jul 2022 17:01:01 GMT

Amicus Brief supporting Columbus City Schools in CCS v. State of Ohio

Ohio’s expansion of the EdChoice Scholarship Program, through H.B. 110, threatens these core values, laws, and, most importantly – our system of common schools, itself. This Amicus brief explains how the EdChoice Scholarship Program directly and concretely creates educational injuries to the students of Ohio and its school districts, causing particular harm to the student Plaintiffs in this case. This brief focuses on four injuries created by H.B. 110, arguing that EdChoice: 1) exacerbates the underfunding of the public schools in Ohio, harming Ohio’s most economically disadvantaged students; 2) promotes racial segregation; 3) directly harms students with disabilities by removing crucial protections and services that students receive in public schools; and finally, 4) subjects LGBTQIA+ students and other students in protected classes to publicly funded discrimination.

Ending Race-Based Discrimination in Housing Requires Access to Ohio Fair Plan Records

Mon, 23 May 2022 17:00:56 GMT

Amicus Brief in Support of the Fair Housing Center in The Ohio Fair Plan v. State ex rel. Fair Housing Opportunities of Northwest Ohio

The need for disclosure by public entities involved in the homeowners’ insurance market is a part of the very foundational framework of the United States. If citizens are to have any trust in their public entities, it is vital for their right to have access to public information. Correspondingly, the Supreme Court of the United States held that the right to obtain information, “is a necessary predicate to the recipient’s meaningful exercise of his own rights of speech, press, and political freedom.”

Landlords must present evidence of lead-safe certification when filing eviction actions

Tue, 15 Mar 2022 17:03:12 GMT

Amicus Brief in support of Christopher Daniel

Shaker House, LLC vs. Christopher Daniel

The presence of lead in housing occupied by families presents a significant health and safety hazard to Cleveland’s children, which cannot be resolved solely by a reactive strategy. The City of Cleveland recognized this and enacted the leadsafe certification requirement as a significant, proactive step toward ameliorating that hazard. The Housing Court, as one of the few housing-focused entities in the City, recognized the importance of compliance with the lead-safe certification ordinance to the health and safety of Cleveland residents, and that landlords, pursuant to R.C. 5432.04, are required to comply with that ordinance. As a result, Housing Court enacted a local rule that requires landlords to present evidence of the required lead-safe certification when filing eviction actions. The Housing Court’s requirement is proper, enforceable and facilitates the expeditious disposition of cases.

Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids Annual Report 2021

Tue, 01 Mar 2022 18:03:04 GMT

Enhancing civil legal aid and outcomes for clients through statewide collaboration

Taskforces — The Alliance coordinates statewide work, shares best practices and tools, and identifies patterns of barriers to providing client services through seven statewide substantive law taskforces. The focus areas of the taskforces include housing, employment, consumer, immigration, education, health and public benefits, and family law. In addition, the legal aid racial justice and community development taskforces meet to provide opportunities for information sharing and education.

Ohio Training Advisory Committee (OTAC) — The Alliance formed the OTAC in 2018 to share resources and the costs associated with providing Ohio’s legal aid staff with high-quality, cost-effective training and professional development opportunities. Recent statewide trainings included:

Utility Assistance Programs for Low-Income Families

Trial Preparation: Investigative Tools and Techniques and Preparing Witnesses for Depositions and Trials (presented by Legal Aid Society Board President and OAJF Board Member David Kutik)

Trauma-Informed Lawyering for People Living with Mental Illness (presented by NAMI)

Human Trafficking: Identifying Victims & What to Do Next (presented by staff from the Ohio Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Initiative).

Amicus Briefs —The Alliance regularly collaborates on amicus briefs with one or two firms taking the lead on drafting and the other programs lending support. Recently, members of the Alliance joined a brief in support of the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program and Cleveland’s lead testing rules.

Read the full report to learn about each Ohio Legal Aid organization's impact.

Reinstating Unemployment Benefit Work Search Requirements During the COVID Pandemic Caused Economic Harm

Tue, 08 Feb 2022 18:03:01 GMT

Amicus Brief in support of Bowling, Willis, and Huff

Bowling et al. v. Gov. Mike Dewine, et al.

To mitigate the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress enacted the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act, in part, to provide economic stabilization to individuals who were unemployed or underemployed. One of the CARES Act’s provisions, Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (“FPUC”), provided additional emergency unemployment benefits to individuals who met eligibility requirements to receive 3 unemployment benefits under a variety of programs. On March 28, 2020, Ohio elected to enter into an agreement with the U.S. Secretary of Labor to provide FPUC benefits to its citizens.

The CARES Act also contained a provision to allow a state to temporarily waive weekly federal-required work search requirements from mid-March 2020 through December 1, 2020. Weekly work search requirements must be met for an individual to maintain eligibility for unemployment benefits. Ohio chose to waive the federal work search requirements during this period. However, starting the week of December 6, 2020, Ohio resumed the work search requirements for any new unemployment claims and reinstituted the work search requirements for all other individuals filing claims for unemployment benefits the week of May 23, 2021.1

In addition to retaining eligibility for unemployment benefits, an individual is required to return to work or accept an offer of suitable employment, unless there is good cause for the refusal. This requirement was not impacted by any provision under the CARES Act. At all times, individuals filing claims for unemployment benefits had to meet this requirement.

When Governor DeWine backed out of Ohio’s FPUC agreement effective June 26, 2021, thousands of Ohioans who had been receiving these benefits experienced economic harm— particularly those living in areas with high unemployment rates and low rates of job growth. While Ohio businesses have experienced difficulties in filling vacancies, there were a wide variety of reasons for this. Lack of childcare options, continued health concerns related to COVID-19, and individuals retiring earlier than planned all slowed improvement in Ohio’s work force participation rate.

Governor DeWine’s decision to terminate FPUC benefits early by executive fiat was in violation of R.C. 4141.43(I) and Ohio’s Constitution. It also caused harm to those Ohioans who had been unable to find suitable employment and needed those benefits to pay for basic living expenses. The court of appeals was correct in holding that R.C. 4141.43(I) required the Governor to secure these benefits for the citizens of Ohio. See State ex rel. Bowling v. DeWine, 2021-Ohio2902.

Alliance Formation Announcement

Tue, 31 Jul 2018 17:03:10 GMT

Alliance formed to improve legal services for low-income Ohioans

Today, the state’s legal aid organizations are pleased to announce the formation of the Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids. The Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids (Alliance) is established to improve access to and the quality of legal services for low-income individuals and groups and to improve the legal aid service delivery system in Ohio.

Kevin Mulder, Executive Director of Legal Aid of Western Ohio, was elected as the Alliance’s first Chair. Other officers include Colleen Cotter, Executive Director of Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, as Vice-Chair and Kate McGarvey, Director of Legal Aid Society of Columbus, as Secretary/Treasurer.

“More than ever it is important for legal aid organizations to collaborate to ensure Ohio’s disadvantaged citizens have access to the civil legal system,” said Mulder. “The Alliance formalizes the positive working relationship the legal aid organizations have had for decades and gives us the ability to speak as one voice.”

Nearly 15 percent of Ohioans are living in poverty and lack the resources to pay for a lawyer. Yet these Ohioans are more likely to need legal assistance for problems that have been intensified by living in poverty, such as housing insecurity, access to health care, food stamps or disability assistance, protection from domestic violence, education inequity, and employment and income instability.

“The Alliance will assist its members in sharing resources and coordinating programs, fundraising, and work with the private bar to maximize services to low-income Ohioans needing legal services,” said Cotter.

Alliance members include:

Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc.
Community Legal Aid Services, Inc.
Legal Aid of Western Ohio, Inc.
Legal Aid Society of Cleveland
Legal Aid Society of Columbus
Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati
Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio, LLC
Ohio Poverty Law Center
Ohio State Legal Services Association
Pro Seniors, Inc.
Southeastern Ohio Legal Services

Legal aid organizations are nonprofit law offices that provide legal assistance to low-income people on civil legal matters. Civil legal issues are between individuals and companies, lenders, landlords, creditors or the local, state or federal government. Ohioans can find information and referral to legal aid organizations at www.ohiolegalhelp.org.

legalaid

Know Your Rights: Medicaid Estate Recovery

When a family member dies, the State may say you have to pay back money for their Medicaid benefits. You may qualify for an exception.

Next Generation MyCare Is Here ... or Coming Soon

What Legal Aid clients need to know to make their best decision about Medicaid, Medicare, and MyCare

FOR LEGAL AID ATTORNEYS

To Brief or Not to Brief

Ohio Legal Aid Education Taskforce submits amicus brief demonstrating how EdChoice voucher programs impact rural and disabled students

How an Idea Becomes a Bill (hopefully)

Mobile Home Workgroup takes on financing and titling code

Wills and Estate Plans Not Just for the Wealthy

How legal aid helps low-income seniors plan for their family’s future

Legal Aid Attorneys Explain Impact of Inadequate Protection of SNAP Cards

Cyber criminals have stolen $17 million of food stamp funds from Ohio individuals and families. Chip technology could help.

Removing Funds for Civil Legal Services from the State Budget Would Harm Ohio Veterans

Alliance Testifies before Ohio Senate Finance to Retain General Revenue Funds Earmarked for Civil Legal Services for Veterans and Those Impacted by the Opioid Epidemic

Increased Funding for Legal Aid Would Help Rural Ohioans Maintain Housing Stability

Alliance Submits Testimony in Favor of Including a Housing Defense Fund in the State Operating Budget

Ohio Is Underfunding Legal Aid. That Could Change.

State lawmakers have an opportunity to increase legal aid funding in the 2026-2027 Biennial Budget.

Increased State Funding for Legal Aid Would Help Ohioans Like Mr. McAllister

Alliance Vice Chair Kate McGarvey Testifies before the Ohio House Finance Committee

Ohio Alliance of Legal Aids Monitoring Proposed Changes to Medicaid

Ohio Department of Medicaid’s proposed work requirements do not follow the indications of its own research

The Ohio Biennial State Budget

Ohio Department of Medicaid Group VIII Waiver Application

Advocacy to Curb Debt-Related Driver’s License Suspensions Results in a Win for Low-Income Ohioans

Alliance member organizations led the fight to get Ohioans back on the road.

National Poverty in America Awareness Month

Poverty in Ohio Overview

Civil Legal Problems and the Poverty Cycle

How do legal aid organizations help?

The Housing Market Contributes to the Poverty Cycle

How Legal Aid Organizations Intervene

Food Insecurity Competes with Other Basic Needs

How Legal Aid Organizations Help Families Stabilize Food Access

For help addressing a civil legal issue

L earn more about poverty in Ohio

G et involved

Legal Aid Organizations Expand Support for Opioid Epidemic Recovery with OneOhio Grants

Settlement money to grow treatment, recovery, and support services around the State

Alliance Manager Enhances Capacity of Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids

Continuing Legal Education Should Include Focus on Access to Justice for Specially Protected and Historically Marginalized Groups

Alliance Response to Proposed Changes to CLE Requirements

Use of Marijuana Tax Proceeds Should Help Reduce the Justice Gap

House Bill 354 Interested Party Testimony

Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids Annual Report 2022

Enhancing civil legal aid and outcomes for clients through statewide collaboration

Read the full report to learn about each Ohio Legal Aid organization's impact.

Expansion of Ohio's EdChoice Scholarship Program Will Create Educational Injuries

Amicus Brief supporting Columbus City Schools in CCS v. State of Ohio

Ending Race-Based Discrimination in Housing Requires Access to Ohio Fair Plan Records

Amicus Brief in Support of the Fair Housing Center in The Ohio Fair Plan v. State ex rel. Fair Housing Opportunities of Northwest Ohio

Landlords must present evidence of lead-safe certification when filing eviction actions

Amicus Brief in support of Christopher Daniel

Shaker House, LLC vs. Christopher Daniel

Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids Annual Report 2021

Enhancing civil legal aid and outcomes for clients through statewide collaboration

Read the full report to learn about each Ohio Legal Aid organization's impact.

Reinstating Unemployment Benefit Work Search Requirements During the COVID Pandemic Caused Economic Harm

Amicus Brief in support of Bowling, Willis, and Huff

Bowling et al. v. Gov. Mike Dewine, et al.

Alliance Formation Announcement

Alliance formed to improve legal services for low-income Ohioans